Fireworks and Cinnamon Rolls

Submitted by Amy:

Peter and I got to know each other off of a web dating site.  It started out intense from the get-go.  We ended up making out in his car on the first date.

For our second date, he suggested having a picnic in a park that was due to have fireworks.  I love fireworks and I was really falling for him pretty hard, so I agreed.  I offered to make lunch and he offered to make dessert.

It started off nicely enough.  He liked the chicken salad I made, and I liked his cinnamon rolls.  We talked and talked as we waited for it to get dark.

We finally made it onto the topic of friends, and I casually mentioned that I got into online dating because my friend, Margot, had had some success among all of the weirdos that you meet online.

"Not Margot Wilson?" he asked.

I started at him and froze.  "Y-yeah," I said, "Margot Wilson.  You know her?"

He rolled his eyes and said, "Sure I do.  She's totally fucking nuts."

He said it with utmost sincerity.  I had to press him, "You know her?"

"Knew her.  We went on five dates.  She was the craziest girl that I've ever met.  Did you know that she wanted to run across the freeway at rush hour?  That was her idea for a third date.  I had to talk her out of it, even after she parked us at the side of the highway."

This reminded me of something Margot had said last year.  Something was floating into my memory, but I had sort of forgotten...

He continued, "And she flew off the handle for me for the most insane shit.  I opened a door for her and she flipped out all about women's lib for three hours!"

Suddenly, something clicked.  Earlier the prior year, Margot had told me about a guy she had been seeing who she "couldn't get a handle on," but once she realized that he was a habitual liar and prone to violent anger, she distanced herself away from him.  Could this have been the same guy?

As if to confirm my suspicions, Peter said, "I can't believe you're friends with that... her.  You're going to have to make a decision and quick."

My mouth opened.  I said, "Are you asking me to choose between you and Margot?"

"Ding ding ding!  She gets it!  What does she win?"

I said to him that I'd have to think about it.  He kept pressuring me for the rest of the date, and I was certainly in no mood to be around him any longer, much less mess around with him again.  I was able to let him off with a, "I need to think about this."

He dropped me off at home, I wrote him a cordial e-mail explaining that Margot had been my friend for years, and that I wasn't comfortable with the way he was making me feel.

Surprisingly, he wrote back a week later with a short but polite goodbye.  Thank goodness it was neat and tidy.