When I was quite a bit younger, a mutual friend introduced a buddy of mine and myself to her friend, a single woman a few years older than either of us.

As soon as we both met her, I think we subconsciously decided to compete to see who she would “pick”, this was compounded by my living much closer and also both her and I working nearby as well, while my friend lived in the easternmost part of town and consequently much further away, he did however have access to a car, but was at the same time being watched like a hawk by his mother (he’d gotten in serious trouble back when we were in school, gotten expelled, and had to go to juvie), and this meant he could only go out when she said it was okay.

Both he and I clearly had feeling for her and when the three of us hung out, sadly, he usually did his best to impress her, this culminated in what turned out to be a first date for them, we wen’t to our local gas station where he bought ice cream for them to share, then drove to a secluded spot where they proceeded to make out; I bailed as soon as they did, and walked home.

A few days later, I decided to apologize to her for storming off, and went over to her parents house, when I was greeted by her mother, I learned she had decided to move out to California and go live with a friend there.

I think about this from time to time and wish things hadn’t turned out the way they did, I genuinely liked her and was at the same time glad my friend did too, but it hurt all the same as I was never very lucky when it came to relationships while he had a bit of a reputation for messing around.