An Unexpected Twist

Here I am, just trucking along in my little world of internet dating entertainment - and along comes a REAL LIVE person that wants to ask me out! What exactly am I supposed to do with that? Before you think that I'm completely insane, let me give you the backstory (hopefully those of you who know it and/or are involved, don't mind my little synopsis.):

This guy, we'll call him Friend Guy, is a friend of a friend. I've known him for probably a couple of years now, very casually, seeing him only at functions with the aforementioned friend of mine. (Hopefully I'm being appropriately vague to protect the innocent.) He's a sweet guy, funny and intelligent, but a little on the nerdy side of things. Well, he and my friend are pretty darn good friends, and have often worked together. At some point last year, he made the bad decision to reveal to my friend his long-supressed feelings of complete and utter infatuation. She not only didn't feel the same way, but was rather upset, as non-mutual attraction is a gigantic monkey-wrench in an otherwise fabulously platonic male/female relationship. I think there was a period of time of them not talking, but eventually they made up and he's still been present at all pertinent social events. Including one last weekend.

SO... last weekend we are all out, and having a darn good time (with MANY high-larious pictures to prove it), and apparently I was extra charming. My friend says to me at some point in the evening that she asked Friend Guy who he thought was the most fun at the party (or some such question) and he said it was me. Now, we all have to remember that when I'm feeling good (as I am right now), I can be pretty damn 'ON'. Not necessarily the center-of-attention life-of-the-party chick, but some slightly scaled back version of such a person. Plus, I had coffee. But the thing is, I can be HOPELESSLY naive when it comes to random comments like the above illicited by my friend. I think to myself "Sweet! He thinks I'm cool and funny! Awesome." I don't think "I wonder if that means he's interested in me." because I'm stupid like that.

So I get an email this morning, that was actually sent yesterday, from my friend saying that Friend Guy is planning on asking me out. I write back saying, "Oh no, what should I do?" Little do I know, the next dang email in my inbox is from Friend Guy - very cleverly worded and amusing and asking me out on a date. Now, it's not that I have anything against Friend Guy, because he's great, he really is... BUT:

I'm already actively dating THREE different guys. That's already a LOT to have on my little tiny free-time plate. And, with his love of my friend, he's shown a propensity for the worshipful kind of affection that really really turns me off. Those of you who know of the Tom Debacle, know how well I react to that kind of attention. Not to mince words, let's just say BADLY. And he's in the social group, and I don't want to make future outtings ridiculously uncomfortable when/if things end up going badly or just not really going. I know that I've answered my own quandry here, and that I've already made the decision that it's better not to go out with him, but there's the inevitable "everybody needs to like me all the time" guilt that goes along with this decision. So I needed to write it out to work it out and now I just have to figure out how the hell to have the guts to turn down TWO GUYS (remember the Tattoo Guy decision dilemma) in one damn day. Ugh.

Lyrics of the Day
"I’m the one who wants you more than anything, you don't feel the same way you made it clear to me, but I’ll stand my ground and maybe you'll hear what I’ve been sayin'." The Descendents I'm the One