Guest Feature: Sharon's Awkward Life

This next post is from my friend Sharon. Sharon plays the violin on an ancient fiddle and forgets her shoes. I met her freshman year- we both lived in the same dorm and had the same honors chemical engineering classes together.  And very shortly after meeting her, I was hearing the beginnings of this story unfold. Let me just say stories like these are why I have an awkward story blog.
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The summer following my freshman year of high school I worked away from home at a conference center. While living there I became really good friends with a few of the guys that were also working there. Being moderately tom-boyish and completely inept when it comes to ‘girl-talk’ and similar such things, I tend to find guys to be more pleasant company than girls (especially when you’re living in a cabin with about fifteen young teenage girls). For the purpose of this blog of awkwardness, I will focus on one of them. He was 18 that summer, I was 14, but we were mentally at about the same level so we got along well.

So summer came to a close and we went our separate ways. For the next half a year or so, he and I kept in touch via letters. The next summer comes along, and I return to work at the center, but he does not. Oh well, no big deal, another friend come and gone…

Now let’s fast-forward a few years… I’m now a freshman in college.

It’s my second weekend in the lovely state of Delaware, and I am trying out a church that my pastor from my previous church had recommended. It seems to be a lovely service and at the end of the service, I turn around to gather my stuff from the pew.. and BOOM there’s a familiar face sitting right behind me. It took me a minute to figure out where I knew him from, but then it clicked, I knew him from almost four years ago…

So, hey no big deal, a friend shows up again, cool peas. Right?

WRONG! Very quickly I discovered that while 18 year old me had changed a lot from 14 year old me, 22 year old him well… still acted like 14 year old me. Over the course of the next few weeks he quickly started trying to talk to me ALL the time: at church, posting on Facebook, on AIM (yeah instant messenger, how long has it been since you’ve used that?), etc…. Then next thing I know he’s telling me that not only did he like me back when I was 14 (ok 18 year old liking a 14 year old? kinda creepy) he still likes me and in his words ‘has never stopped’ liking me.

Um, excuse me… what? I’m sorry, but last time I checked I hadn’t talked to him in several years, so if I heard that correctly… you never stopped liking someone you had no reason to think you’d ever see again? That’s either a lie or creepy.

Seeing as he:

a.  doesn’t go by his real name on facebook, but instead by a character name from a story he’s writing

b. had taken to writing bizarre things to me in code from the game Final Fantasy ( In case you’re curious apparently ‘Syo dra cdync creha ibuh ouin vyla Meddma Uha’ means ‘May the stars shine upon your face Little One’ in Al Bhed… never having played Final Fantasy, I had to look it up)

c. has an obsession with knifes… not that I don’t like knives… but it does add points towards the creepy argument

d. still lives with his parents while working night shift… again, nothing wrong with living with parents or working at night, but when combined with other stuff just sets off warning bells of RUN AWAY

e. likes a girl way too young for him

… we’ll go with creepy…really creepy. Oh, and did I mention that I had a boyfriend at the time, and  that he knew I had a boyfriend? Anyway, I politely turned him down. Great, this should be end of story, guy gets his heart broken, he’ll get over it and move on.

Fast-forward again to Junior year of college

It’s spring semester, and I log into facebook and find a new message, from oh yes, the same kid.  Once again, he pours out his feelings, letting me know that he can’t stay silent and has to know if I like him in return. (Mind you I again had a boyfriend, and yes he knew I did) Annoyed at the whole situation, I ignored the message. Flat out ignored it. I even avoided my church! I figured, this would blow over, if I ignored it, he would go away.

A week later I get another message asking if I received the previous message. I ignored it.

A day after that I get another message asking if I am ignoring him. Uh…. Duh? I ignored it.

Ten days later, another message that simply said goodbye.

Seven hours later, another message asking me if I ever even considered him a friend. Yeah, I’m a jerk, I ignored it.

Nine days later, another message. This one started out alright, he was apologizing for his rash behavior and forwardness. It went on to say how he valued our friendship and so on and so forth... then it just went downhill as he stated that ‘most importantly’ he had liked me ever since he first met me, and still likes me. I ignored that one too…

I’m sorry boys but persistence isn’t always charming, and if a girl flat out ignores you, that does NOT mean you should continue telling her that you like her, especially if she is in a relationship with someone else… that’s like asking someone to cheat on their significant other, it’s just wrong!!!!!!!

I wish I could say he’s given up, I really wish I could…