Be Kind Rewind

It's funny but a big part of my relationship with Wendy revolved around renting movies.

Wendy and I met last February. We met online and saw each other in person for the first time at a bar. For the most part it went well until an old friend from University saw me. For now reason, he decided to play me up saying things to Wendy like "How do you know this king among men? This god of a man?!?". She was like "um... we just met". He drunkly said goodbye and Wendy and I had something to laugh about for a while.

We went on 3 more outside dates until our first movie date.

Actually, we were supposed to go play pool but I somehow got lost and took the wrong exit to her place. I had to make a detour and was 45 minutes late. By then she was too tired and wanted to rent a movie.

I was actually excited at first because it meant I'd be with her in her house. Alone.

Then I got really nervous because it meant I'd be with her in house. ALONE!

I picked her up and we went and rented Half Nelson (with Ryan Gosling).

The whole way back to her house I kept thinking how things are going to be when we get there. I wasn't sure what to do when we sat on the couch; sit next to her, put my arm around her, etc.

We get inside, parents are asleep. She leads me downstairs, and I see no couch.

Only a bed!

I'm sure any other guys would have been excited but I was sweating bullets.

I laid down on it on one side and just watched the movie. After while she leaned on me and it felt good. It felt really good actually. It was the first time I ever had a female in my arms (who wasn't piss drunk or using me to make someone else jealous).

This was a pivotal part in our relationship. It was the beginning of me getting comfortable with Wendy.

By the end of the movie, Wendy had half fallen asleep. We talked a bit and I can't remember completely, but I'm not even sure we kissed. I do remember that when I left, she just gave me a hug.

For a while I thought that was the last time I'd see her, but for some reason we kept going out and eventually dated for 10 months.

The "movie date" evolved over the ten month. After the first one, the following ones had the same pattern:
1. Rent a movie
2. Watch movie
3. Snuggle and watch some tv
4. Make out

This happened for a while and eventually step 4 evolved into more than just making out but when never hit a home run.

Looking back now, one of the reasons was we'd only start making out at an extremely late hour! I'd meet her at 8:30, we'd watch the movie and finish it by 11 or 12am and on start making out by 1am.

I don't know if she wanted to make out during the movies but she never showed it and I guess I"m to blame too, but most the time we rented stuff I really wanted to watch!

Eventually, we stopped making out. She'd be too tired to do much of anything, so we'd watch a movie. Then she'd fall asleep in my arms.

By now I was more confident and comfortable with her and would try to kiss her and tickle her, but I'd mostly get an annoyed "stop!" instead of a kiss.

The last time she came over to watch a movie before we broke up, she fell asleep and was so dead to the world that she asked if she could crash over.

I don't know if I was being selfish or what, but deep down inside I was so pissed. The reason being that I'd ask her to stay multiple times before and she'd always so no or have an excuse. The 3 or 4 times she did crash over was also because she was too tired to drive but for those occasions, I convinced her to stay over.

During those times, absolutely nothing would happen except bad sleep. I have a single bed and can't sleep well with someone else in it.

This last time, I had enough. I almost wanted to tell her to just go home, but I came to my senses and realized she was way to tired to drive.

The plus side was we both kind of woke up long enough to lie in bed and just talk about stuff, which made it all worth it.

This was one of the things I wanted to bring up to Wendy but she beat me to it with the e-mail I got a few weeks ago.

We talked about it on the phone and in the car on the final night. In the end she apologized for seeming like she wanted to push me away (because she was physically pushing me away at times). I think the thought of being in that position again (lying on the couch with my arms around her totally bored while she sleeps, and not able to move without waking her up) is what made me have a lot of doubt when we talked about our future. I was afraid things would go back to that.

However, as much as I'm complaining, sharing a couch with a beautiful girl is always more fun than watching a movie with a large pillow.