Yeah, I cleverly changed her name.

In case you were unaware, I'm currently in pursuit of an unavailable girl, and it's not even Regina Spektor! She's sweet, she's funny, beautiful (I'll admit it), and she likes to hang out with me. Now of course that may be just because I seem like a non-threat, but my huge ego would like to believe it's because there's a connection that could turn into something more substantial.

Then there's the guy she's dating. It's a little worrying that she started dating him to begin with. He's 27 or so, lives at home, doesn't have a car (neither do I, but out of choice, not because I totaled it), and he just had a child with an ex in February--a child he has yet to meet. None of these things can tell the whole story, of course. However, after meeting him, I'm at a loss for what's causing the attraction. He's not attractive, and apparently he's even told her that he's glad he has her, as now he doesn't have to try to be attractive anymore. A true romantic. Not only that, but he was completely cold to me the one time we met, even though I went out of my way to be nice.

I know this girl through a coworker. They're best friends, and my coworker has ColLAIRE come in and join us for dinner usually at least a couple of times a week. It used to be that we had her bring food in for us--that was the excuse--but now we just have her come in to hang out with us. Anyway, my coworker is dating this guy, let's call him WoWboy, and it's his best friend that ColLAIRE is dating, so it's two best friends dating two best friends. Insurmountable? Maybe. I mostly hear complaints about the guy. My coworker says that he's always hanging out at her apartment (which she shares with her boyfriend), and he helps himself to her food, never offering to reimburse or replace. Not only does she buy extra groceries just because she knows he's going to eat it, but he leaves messes around the apartment, too. This is my competition?

I guess that's the worst thing. He gets to date the coolest girl in the world, and he doesn't even have to put forth any effort. How do I compete with that?

I've simply been trying to enjoy my time with her and see if anything develops, despite the circumstances. Besides her coming in for dinner, we've gone to comedy night twice, they've come over for a movie twice, and we went for a walk once. The only time her boyfriend was along was for pho.

I'm scared that I'm getting further and further into the "friend zone," but I'm still torn between what to do. On one hand, it would be nice to put up a fight for once. On the other hand, this is a decision she's made, and I feel like I should respect it. If she likes me enough, she should break it off with him on her own. But then, saying nothing is just going to lead to regret. This is the spin cycle I'm in right now. I suppose the only way I'll respect myself is to talk to her about it and see what happens. I'm taking my time weighing how important self-respect is. \:\)

I really like her!

Now that you're up to speed on the basics, I'll tell you about her birthday, which was the 28th. She likes to read, so I looked through my collection of books trying to find something she might also like. It became painfully apparent that all of my favorite reading is geared towards adolescent males. She has said she reads anything that's around, and when she came over for a movie the first time, she pointed out Ender's Game, saying she liked it, and Ranma 1/2, saying nothing about it, but I get the sense she at least had an interest in it. I decided to give her a copy of I Was a Teen-Age Dwarf by Max Shulman, which is a book based around the character, Dobie Gillis. It's a light, fun read, and I figured its goofiness might fit her well. Also, giving her something I already owned wouldn't be too awkward of a gift (I actually bought her the copy I gave her, as I wanted one in a little better condition, but don't tell her that).

I needed a way to wrap the gift, so I took advantage of the Shout Box here, and Sean came to my rescue, suggesting aluminum foil. I almost always enjoy what I find in aluminum foil, so I had to take his suggestion and run with it. However, it was still obviously a book, so I decided to put it in a Ziploc bag covered with duct tape. Scary? Maybe. I didn't have any duct tape, so I had to borrow something from my dad. Thankfully, he had aluminum foil tape, which went along well with the aluminum foil, and I thought it looked better than duct tape would have, too. At first I was going to pretend that NASA had planned on launching it into deep space to let an alien culture enjoy our literature, but the mission was scrapped, and I was able to buy it at their annual yard sale. After getting to work with it and seeing the refrigerator, though, I decided to throw it in the freezer. I thought it would be funny to give it to her nice and cold and explain that it had been sent hurtling forward through time, Back to the Future style, and that's why it was iced over. I didn't have the opportunity to give it to her myself, but my coworker took it home and put it in her own freezer, and she gave it to Collaire the next morning.

Apparently she thought it was funny, and was fascinated with the Ziploc bag. My coworker said she went so far as to say I'm awesome. I'm looking forward to seeing her again, as I don't know if she knew what was up with the pressed "flower" that I put in the card.

Back on Valentine's Day, when she came in to join us for dinner, she made me a flower out of a paper napkin, which turned out really horribly. She said she wouldn't be offended if I threw it out. Naturally, I held onto it. I figured it would be funny to give back to her at some point, and this was the perfect opportunity. I simply said in the card that someone gave me this beautiful flower (aka abused napkin) once, and I thought it was appropriate to pass it on to her.

I don't know what's going to happen with all of this, but it's nice to know I can still like someone so much. If it was up to me, I'd see her every day. Here's hoping she's not already just thinking of me as a brother.

That's all for now! Finally!