SOS: Being the Rebound Date

Ever dated someone who was on the rebound from a long-term, serious relationship? You spend a lot of time listening to stories about their former romance and maybe you get compared to the person every now and then. It pretty much sucks.

So here I was, on a date with a guy I'd had a crush on from the first moment I met him - when he and his ex were still together. At least, I thought it was a date. It turned out to be something else entirely.

I met Eric at church. And yes, that's his real name. I just "googled" him and didn't find anything about him so I feel perfectly safe in thinking that he'll never read this. And even if it does, maybe it will give some insight. And then, maybe not. See, Eric was not exactly vain but pretty confident. He was more than just good looking and he knew it. Blond, muscular and funny. Fortunately for me, he was also kinda short so that limited the number of admirers. We started as friends. Isn't that how it always starts?

When he tearfully told me about the break-up, I silently cheered. Maybe now was my shot! And sure enough, before the conversation was over, we had plans for the weekend. Yes!

Not sure why, but I drove that evening. All during dinner, he told me about his former relationship: how they met, how they had weathered the rough times before, and, of course, how much she had changed lately. I feigned interest. He had his arm wrapped around me, how could I not be interested in his every word? Besides, we were friends and friends were supposed to be supportive. And have I mentioned the muscles? Yowzah!

After dinner he suggested we just drive around for a while. Okay. Soon, he was directing me through a residential neighborhood. Before we made it two streets in, he jumped in the back seat and covered himself with my windshield visor. What...? Sure enough, I was directed to drive very, very slowly past a certain house. Her house. No one was home. This lead to plenty of speculation as where she might be as we left the neighborhood. We pulled into a parking lot and read each other questions out of my most useful dating tool at that time: The Book of Questions. He answered every one for himself and then what he thought she would say. Bo-o-oring.

Then? Just when the blush had completely faded from my crush...he asked if we could drive by her house again before I dropped him off at home. Sure! Why not? Might as well go out with a bang, right?

While Eric and I continued to hang out regularly, it never went anywhere. Besides, he was more like eye candy to me than a potential boyfriend after that. Maybe another time I'll tell you about when we went to the same college, had a class together. I took a stand in that class during a controversial topic. He sunk down in his chair. Or maybe I'll just tell you about the time I was on the rebound and the poor, poor boy I got involved with...