The Boyfriend with a Thousand Faces

Story Sent in by Brock:

I met Lydia at a friend's party. We clicked and I asked her if she'd want to go out on a date. She said that she would and we talked a while more. Lots of good things stood out about her, but one strange thing happened: over the course of the night, she twice asked me if I knew a guy named Nick Thomas. I didn't, and after the second time she asked me ("Are you sure you don't know Nick Thomas?"), I asked her who he was.

"He's a nobody," she said, then changed the subject. I didn't think much more about it. Just one of those things.

Forward to our date. Less than five minutes into it, she asked, "Do you know Nick Thomas?"

I had to laugh. "Who is Nick Thomas?"

She replied, "My ex. I think."

Uh-oh. "You think?"

She sighed and said, "He was my boyfriend for a little over a year, then said he wanted to explore around. He had sex with two of my best friends then explored elsewhere."

Ouch. Sad story. I said, "Are you all right? And why did you say, 'I think'?"

She replied, "We never officially broke up. I think we might still be together."

I said, "After messing around with two of your friends and then exploring elsewhere, I think he thinks it's done. Also, perhaps you should explore making new best friends. Taking him into their beds after you was pretty heartless of them."

She sighed again, then said, "I got rid of them, but I was hoping that maybe... you were him."

"Huh?"

She said, "You kind of look like him. I just thought that maybe you were him and wanted to come back to me. Silly hope, I guess."

"You thought I was him?"

"You kind of look like him, and it's been a while since I saw him last. He might have grown into you."

"I'm sorry. He didn't."

"You sure you're not Nick Thomas? Just to be sure."

"Positive."

She sighed a third time. "Too bad."

At some point or other, we changed topics, and the rest of the date went off without a hitch. However, I didn't reach out to her for a second date.