Sunday, January 23, 2011

Craig - The Final Chapter

I promised there would be more from this guy. (See January 2010.)

Craig and I had established that we would be nothing more than friends. Most of our interaction was on the basketball court Saturday mornings. In his defense regarding my upcoming criticism, we were almost always on the same team and played pretty well together.

One Sunday evening he asked if we could go for a drive. (Do friends do that?) He asked me to sit in the middle next to him. (Okay... I know friends don't do that.) We drove out to the middle of nowhere. (Crap.)

After a long, awkward-yet-unremarkable conversation he took a deep breath, put the car in gear, and drove back. We pulled into the parking lot of his complex and after a moment of silence he blurted, "I really don't think I can just be friends with you. Do you think we could try a relationship?" When I told him I didn't think so, he added, "How can you say that? We have so much chemistry in basketball!"

I have a very serious appreciation for sports... and maybe I just don't understand what the foundation of a healthy relationship is, but I felt at the time that this was not a valid argument in behalf of ours.

I don't think we played much after that, and he never brought us up again... Until he called me a year later the week before he got married... just to make sure.