Ping-pong is a newer story, a little heartache from last month.
I'd noticed him one time before we actually got together. He was tall and gorgeous, with slanted pale blue eyes that gave him the look of a pale Eskimo. Please note that I am allowed to use the Eskimo since my great-grandmother was of that bloodline... and it's a prettier word than Inuit, Eskimo kissing and all.
He was dejected and did not notice me, but the second time I saw him, I made certain that he did. Our eyes locked, and we regarded one another like two cats.
I found out he was not Eskimo - he had fairly normal Caucasian parents and was from California. However, it was not some vague ethnic origin determining this man's uniqueness, but rather, his obsession with ping-pong.
He actively played in tournaments, and was planning to open up a pin-pong venue so that his fellow obsessives would have a place to play.
As much as I tried to resist, I slept with him the first night we hung out.
"I'm not one of those guys who gets weird after sex," he insisted, as part of his case to coerce me.
So I gave in, believing we were embarking on a true relationship.
And it felt like that in the beginning. There was no tension. The next morning we talked about our dreams and ambitions, and he told me he'd been having an affair with a married woman. Someone he worked with.
"Oh," was all I said. With him, I could be the non-judgmental liberal artist.
But feminine vanity prevailed, and naturally I expected that once he surrendered to my charms, he'd let her go.
He was always busy and tired, so tired. Always on the verge of canceling plans. Always so apologetic if he did.
I received frequent text messages that said, "Miss u" and 'Ur so sweet." So I thought we were perhaps a bit further along than we actually were.
Then he disappeared for a whole week.
Had he lost a ping-pong tournament? Sustained an injury? Had a bout of panic when he realized we were getting close very quickly.
Now, this was a guy who claimed to be so into our 'relationship' that he offered to go to the clinic with me for STD testing so we could validate our love via unprotected sex.
Just when I gave up on him, he finally got in touch with me, and I had no choice but to call him out on his flaky behavior.
"Let's meet," he said, "I want to explain in person."
When I met him, he said that he just couldn't give up the married woman. He told me that she was much older and he didn't want a monogamous relationship with her, but that he was very confused. "I like you so much," he said. "Your creativity, your ambition...:
Ever the liberal artist, I had compassion for him. And I felt a tenderness that I hadn't felt in some time. We kissed furiously on the street and he walked me home, and everything seemed fine.
"We don't know what this is yet," I declared. "I like you too. Let's just see what happens in the next few weeks."
For a moment, that was enough.
He left clues, whether subconscious or deliberate, I could never be sure. He told me about a newspaper article about his company and the scandals of his business partners. A famous actress was mentioned as being an investor in the new ping-pong club.
I realized then that she was the married woman he couldn't give up...and that he had to continue sleeping with her to get the funding he needed for his business.
My blue-eyed darling was just another New York playboy.
It ended fast. It doesn't matter who said what... in fact, the ending was not even cohesive. All I know is, he told her I existed. And even though she's in her 60's (and still hot, granted) the jealousy rose up her spine like a serpent and he had to choose: money or love.
Since he was always broke, of course he chose the money.
No comments:
Post a Comment