Bye bye

“Man, I’m going to miss you” said Amanda, with an emphasis on the word “you”. I had just handed her a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice. I had gotten up early and was going for a paddle before work. I was trying to be quiet and honor Jason’s request that I not feed Amanda anymore. She heard me banging around in the kitchen and came out. The past few days, I’ve been getting up early and going for my paddle. If Amanda was up and about I’d get her some coffee or orange juice, but we’ve been skipping our breakfasts together. This morning she caught me in the kitchen getting ready to go, and I made her a glass of OJ. That’s when she told me how much she’d miss me.

“As opposed to?” I replied.

“Jas.”

“Moving on?”

“Yeah. It’s not working. The whole jealousy thing. He's getting out of control. He hasn’t had a lot of girlfriends, has he?”

“You’re the only one in the past year. I’m not sure about before that – but I think you’re probably right.”

“Usually that’s a good thing. They’re so grateful to have a girlfriend that they’re well behaved. Make me breakfast?” She asked and gave me a big smile.

“You sure that’s a good idea?” This really went against my better judgment.

“Yeah. Time to set this bridge on fire.”

“What do you want?”

“The Full Monte. Make me that eggs benedict you brag about. And pour me a mimosa while you’re at it.”

“Your tastes have gotten sophisticated.”

“You’ve been spoiling me.” She shrugged.

“You know that’s really going to piss him off.”

“Yeah, guys are dense. You need to hit them over the head with a two by four to get them to notice anything.” I gave her a blank look. If ‘guys are dense’ what am I – fuckin' chopped liver? Oh, yeah, I am chopped liver. For some reason, girls often talk to me like I’m one of them – I guess I’m too ‘safe’. She went on, oblivious, “otherwise he’ll be calling me and whining and stalking me and trying to get back together. I hate that. Better to make a clean break of it.” She finished her juice. “Ya know, I used to think that you were freaky obsessed about food. But, I gotta admit, fresh squeezed OJ is a great way to start the day.”

“It only takes a minute. Slice open a couple of oranges, put ‘em in the juicer and you’re there.”

“Yeah, but then you have a knife and a cutting board and a juicer to wash. I’d rather just pop open a plastic bottle.”

I shrugged. You get out of life what you put into it.

I pulled a bottle of champagne from the fridge – who am I to say no to a cute girl looking for mimosas? (Shit, my judgment sucks anyway) I had a nice bottle of Mumm’s Napa sparkling brut chilled. I can always paddle tomorrow.

It took about half an hour to make breakfast. After the mimosa, Amanda was drinking the champagne straight. I took a flute myself. Just after I plated the breakfast Jason came out of his bedroom. He looked at us, disgusted, shook his head and went outside without a word. We heard a car drive off with a chirp of tires. Amanda tapped her champagne flute against mine and winked at me. Man that really made me feel like shit. I was not happy to be involved in hurting Jason like that. But, it was inevitable - and as she said, it's best to make a clean break of it.

Things will probably be a bit tense around the house for a while. I think I may need to get either a new house mate - or a new house.

More Jealousy

"Who ees Amanda?"

"Amanda?" I asked confused.

“Yes, Amanda. zhat’s her name eesn’t it?” Heidi’s accent was getting thicker as she was getting angry and talking faster. “Who ees she?”

Heidi and I were having a picnic at a park near my house in Mountain View. I had prepared a basket of sandwiches, fruit, my potato salad, and a bottle of white wine (a good New Zealand sauvignon blanc) which is actually not allowed at the park. I picked her up and then went back to my house to pick up the picnic (just to keep things as fresh as possible). I noticed that there was a message on the answering machine as we went into the kitchen. I had my cell turned off - no disturbances while I'm with Heidi - so if someone really wanted to reach me they might have tried to call the house. I wasn’t worried about hiding anything from her – so I just hit the button. It was Sarah.

“Hi Rich.” Came the voice from the machine with enthusiasm. “I got your gift. Thanks so much. I really like it. Look me up next time you’re in the neighborhood. Can’t wait to see you again.” There was a pause, and then a “thanks again, bye” in a very sing song voice. Well, at least she didn’t say “I love you!” Why do I even have a land line? Why do I have an answering machine?

Heidi was very quiet as we drove to the park. I thought it was the phone call that she was unhappy about. Once we were at the park she demanded to know who Amanda was, which threw me for a loop. “Yes, zees Amanda, who ees she? I saw the mail on your counter. It was addressed to ‘Amanda’, with your house number on it. You didn’t tell me you were living with a woman.”

“Whoa, slow down. Amanda is Jason’s girlfriend. I live with Scott and Jason. Jason has a girlfriend - Amada. She has been staying over at the house a lot lately.”

“Sleeping there? Getting mail there?”

“Yes, to both questions. But she is Jason’s girlfriend. I’m not his mom. I don’t tell him who he can sleep with or when he can sleep with her.”

“So that was her bra on the sofa?”

Oh, crap. I guess I need to scrub the house before I have Heidi over. Thinking about it from her perspective I can see how this was looking pretty bad. “Yes. Well, she and Jason tend play in the living room.” It was clear that I was offending her Midwestern sensibilities. We have been dating for 3 weeks now and I’ve not so much as made it to first base yet. (Oddly, that does not bother me at all, but that’s a whole different post.)

“And who was that on the phone message?”

I inhaled deeply. “That was Sarah.” I explained about Sarah and how she had recently moved up to Seattle – and that we had been close, but broke up about a year ago. This took a while, and I think she started to calm down. (I won’t post it all here, but these posts have the history of Sarah, this post, the second half of this post and my recent weekend with Sarah.) I left out the part that we were engaged. And I really left out the weekend that we had spent together recently. But I can only think that it would have made things worse. The food was getting warm. This wasn’t the picnic I was planning on.

“Well,” she sniffed, “at least you played the phone message in front of me. You weren’t trying to hide anything.” She paused for quite a while.

“I’m sorry. It’s just…” She didn’t finish the sentence. She was jealous. I wish it had made me feel good. You know, flattered in a way because someone really cares me and wants me. Jealousy is an ugly emotion, but sometimes it exposes how we really feel. There have been times when it is nice to know that someone cares that much, even if they haven’t shown it in other ways. It just wasn’t the case this time.

Jealousy

“Hey, I don’t want you cooking for her anymore.” Jason (one of my housemates) was angrier than I had ever seen him before.

“It’s only food.” I protested.

“Just cut it out.” Jason was nearly yelling.

It seems that he is developing a bad case of jealousy. Amanda (his girlbuddy) has been staying over night just about every night lately. She has some of her mail delivered here, too. Scott (my other housemate) and I have been trying to decide if we should start charging her rent. I don’t think we should bother, as the couple of them don’t take up any more room than Jason did alone. Personally, I like having a woman around – it has a certain civilizing influence on the household. Except, of course, when someone gets jealous – then things start to get ugly.

Anyway, Amanda and I are the early risers in the house and we have been having breakfast together almost every day for the last couple of weeks. I promised to make her eggs benedict with real hollandaise sauce – and I guess this put Jason over the top. He seems to think it is my after sex breakfast. While it is one of the more impressive breakfasts in my repertoire, I’ve had everything from omelets to oatmeal (or oreos) the morning after.

Frankly, I would not take Amanda from him – even if I didn’t have a “would-be” girl friend that I am currently dating - well, sort of. I know the pain of losing someone and I would not impose that on anyone. I’ll back off. I’ve not been taking my morning paddles recently – I guess it’s time to start again.

In other news, Sarah (the runaway bride) has moved up to Seattle, and found a cozy new apartment – cozy as in really small. But she thinks this is just a temporary. I sent her a new coffee maker, a really nice one, as a house warming gift.

She never made it back to the bay area on her way up to Seattle. Damn. My ankle still hurts from time to time from that nasty fall I took trying not to be late for our date. I guess that type of injury takes a while to heal. Funny, the ache in my ankle makes me limp at times, but it reminds me of our weekend together – I kinda like it.

Someone Got Lucky

This morning, after my paddle I was making some fresh squeezed orange juice for myself and a glass for Amanda. She usually comes out to chat when she hears me working in the kitchen in the mornings. Kinda like a cat when you bang her food bowls. I think I may be spoiling her.

"Someone got lucky" she said in a sing song voice.

I gave her a scowl - "Don't rub it in" I thought it was rather rude of her to say that to a currently sex deprived guy.

"What do you mean, didn't you have fun?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong here, but didn't you just come out of the double occupancy bedroom?"

"You never made it home Monday night. I just assumed... Oh." She looked a bit embarrassed. I didn't realize that she was keeping tabs on me.

"I, uh, kinda overindulged at the brewery in Half Moon Bay. Ended up crashing (figuratively not literally) at a nearby motel."

"Wow, you must really been plastered."

"Well, a few too many to drive." (I don't drink and drive since the accident) I regaled her with my story of not being able to pick-up anyone all night - and ultimately getting a motel room for one. She found it all a bit too amusing for my taste. I hope I wasn't being laughed at.

We were laughing together when Jason came out (he's the guy she shares the room with). He gave us a grumpy look - I'm suspecting a bit jealous. He doesn't need to worry. I would not come between them.

Blueberry Season

Yes, here in California it's blueberry season. Well, it must be in the midwest, or Argentina, or somewhere, 'cause there's blueberries in town. Anyway, I love blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Yesterday I bought a tray of blueberries from the fruit stand that the farmers set up off El Camino (a big street running through the center of Mountain View).

I woke up early, and decided to skip the paddling and have a lazy breakfast before going into work. After starting to get ingredients together Amanda came out of Jason’s room. She seems to rise fairly early as well. She has been staying here almost every night lately – lucky Jason.

I chatted with her while I put together the pancake batter and made some orange juice.

“You don’t really grind coffee beans every morning, do you?” she asked.

“Yeah, I do.” I put the grounds into the French press, and poured boiling water (yes, bottled spring water - and she gave me grief about that, too) over them. I handed her a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice.

“Are you doing this just to impress me?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, guys do that a lot around me.”

“Umm, I can see why.” She is a cute girl with a good personality. I can imagine that guys try to show off in front of her all the time. “But, no. I really like good food, and I think it’s worth the effort to make it well. You can ask Jason. Actually, the breakfast that I use to impress women is eggs benedict. Even in good restaurants it’s unusual to get real hollandaise sauce. And when it’s made well, it’s really really good.”

“So blueberry pancakes from scratch are just an ordinary workday breakfast?”

“Well. Not an everyday breakfast, but not that unusual.” The pancakes came out wonderful, if I don’t say so myself. I gave a stack to Amanda. It’s just as easy to cook for two as it is for one.

“So do you have a lot of chances to make your eggs benedict for your women friends?” she asked after finishing the pancakes.

“No, not really.”

“You know, you can make it for me any time.”

I wasn’t sure if she was propositioning me or not. I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she was expressing hunger – the food kind.

I started to do the dishes. “No way, let me do those.” Amanda protested.

“Really? Are you sure?”

“Yeah. You cooked, I’ll clean.“

What a sweet girl. I’m not really comfortable letting someone else muck around in my kitchen – neither of my housemates ever ventures in there - but it seemed polite to let her do some of the cleanup.

Jason has a Girlfriend

I was shocked, shocked I tell you! I came home from work last night to a dark house. Which is not all that unusual. As often as not my housemates are off to bed before I arrive home. I opened the door to the kitchen, got a beer out of the fridge and walked toward the living room. I was planning on channel surfing a bit before heading off to bed. But as I walked into the living room I was faced with a posterior. A woman’s posterior. A woman’s naked posterior. The front half of the woman was under a large blanket which was spread out on the floor. The top half of my housemate, Jason, was poking out the far side of the blanket. They were engaged in some, ah, amorous activity. Use your imagination.

I was shocked. Not at seeing the naked bottom half of a woman. I actually kinda liked that – it was rather shapely. I was shocked that Jason had gotten so far with a girl. It’s not that Jason is a bad guy or anything. But you need to understand, this is a house inhabited by three programmers (OK, nerds). So far, since I moved in about a year ago, there has been only one girlfriend that any of us had and I only had her for a few weeks. Way to go Jason. Judging from what little I saw of her, she was quite a catch.

I quietly retreated to my bedroom.

-------------------

This morning I got up early, as has been my habit and went paddling on the bay. When I got home to take a shower before work I met the top half of Amanda – which was every bit as attractive as the bottom half. She was in the dining room reading the paper. I knew that Jason had been going out with her for a while, but I didn’t know they were so serious (OK, perhaps they’re not serious – but their relationship has seriously advanced). I made a pot of coffee and poured us both a cup.

We chatted about nothing much in particular. I learned that she was living in an apartment in Sunnyvale, she likes country western music, and she is the receptionist at a computer company in Cupertino (no, not the really famous one). She has two cats named Ginger and Mary Anne. That was all of her life story that I got before Jason came out of his bedroom all dressed up and (sniff sniff) smelling good – in a masculine sort of way. They greeted each other with the silliest grins – OK, at some level I’m jealous - and then they headed off for work.

I want a girlfriend, too. Not just any girlfriend – I want my Lynn back. Damn it.