DC Dude: Part 3 - Just When I Gave Up, He Showed Up!

It’s 12:30am on Wednesday night - September 8th.  My phone rings and wakes me up out of a dead sleep. I roll over and grab my phone off the night stand - taking in a deep breath, I’m thinking to myself this better be important.

I read the caller ID with one eye - too tired to open both eyes.

Caller ID:  DC Dude.

Immediately, my other eye opened so it could verify what the other eye just saw. Holy crap – it’s DC Dude!

In the middle of the night?!

Mother!!!

I’m staring at the name on my caller ID. My mind is blank – still fin a fog from being woken up at 12:15am. I try to decide if I should answer it or not. I haven’t heard from DC Dude in weeks – so typical. And, just when I’ve got him out of my head again, what happens? He contacts me again.

My phone is still ringing.

This is not funny.

Seriously, God...I’m not laughing.

Who is DC Dude ? We met on Match from Hell.  We clicked and wanted to meet each other, so we planned a 3-day weekend together in Georgetown where he lived.  I get there, we toured the monuments and walked in the snow hand-in-hand during a beautiful snow storm.  But, during the course of  the weekend, he became distant. It wasn't until Sunday that he finally told me there was a great possibility that he was losing his job and his mind had been elsewhere – well, at least that’s the reason he gave me. I left that Sunday afternoon feeling  defeated and  just wanting to crawl under a rock because without a job he said there would be no "us."  I was crushed.

A week later he officially lost his job and I was hoping we would stay close friends, but that didn't happen.  Instead, we would talk randomly - I would get excited to hear from him again and then weeks or months would go by without anything.  He usually would pop up right when I finally had stopped thinking about him. It was difficult because I really wanted to see him again, but after several months I gave up and started to date other people.

Remember Architect Dude….and how about K9 Cop?! There have been a few other people in between, but I kept thinking about DC Dude and how effortlessly it was with him.

From February until July, I didn't hear anything from him until he started texting me again in July. We went back-and-forth with the texting, and eventually spoke on the phone. I really wanted to see him so I invite him to the Catskills for a weekend, but the invitation went unclaimed.

As usual, I stopped hearing from him. Frustrated and disappointed, I pushed him out of my head - only to cave in a week later.

Red Rocket 2.0

It was a beautiful summer morning, and I was driving into work with my Phoenix CD blaring in Red Rocket.  The music makes me happy and makes me drive fast (Red Rocket loves going fast), but it also reminds me of the person who told me about the band in the first place.

Damn him.  So, I caved in and shot him a text when I got into work.

Carrie: Good morning!

DC Dude: Good morning!

DC Dude: “DC Dude”?!? LMFAO!!!! :)

Carrie: Are you reading my blog???!!!!!

DC Dude: Yep. Reading the K-9 thing.....glad I didn't piss you off! However, I have not checked to verify if any character degradation has been blogged in the last 7 months!

DC Dude: I'm going in reverse through them. I'm in February now......

Carrie: You need to read them in order! One blends into the other.

DC Dude: I got no credit for the Stephen King book! Damn!

Carrie: I thought I did give you credit!

DC Dude: LMFAO!!!! I love this shit.

Carrie: Glad you like it.

DC Dude: LMAO...Plenty of white trash!!!!

Then he eventually got to the one I wrote about him.....

DC Dude: I did in fact lose my job a week later (Dec 20). After I compiled a market report for the company and disclosed my contacts. Thank you. :)

DC Dude: But you were right. I should have kept focus on you after driving 250 miles. I apologize. That was a wonderful weekend.

DC Dude: You're writing better now than before! Nice progression, good work! Keep it up!

I sat there at my desk, staring at his text. Holy crap, he just apologized to me. I had just been validated; it wasn't me - it was him.  I felt my head getting hot, and my emotions starting to surface again, even after I had successfully kept them in the lock-down position.

I put my phone away and tried to focus work.  But, then I heard my phone ring; it was DC Dude again. I answered it with a smile on my face because I could here him laughing on the other end, "I just read your blog, so now I know how much you hate texting, so I thought I'd better call instead!"

Smart man.

As my luck would have it, I had to cut our conversation short, because the commotion in my office had begun. We agreed that we would continue the conversation later.

When I got home from work, I tried calling him, but all I got was his voice mail. I tried to reach out to him over the next few days, but I didn't get a response. I was getting frustrated again…

Maybe I'll try to call him one more time…

*BIFF!*

(That was the imaginary hand hitting me up-side my head.)

Ouch!

Right on queue, the Evil Voice of Reason inside my head starts laughing at me and says, "Okay, Carrie, enough! Get your head out of the clouds, He's Just Not That Into You!!!
You read the book. You saw the movie.

HELLLLLLOOOOO!!!!!

Get your head together, sister! You know the drill! Snap out of it, and stop day-dreaming! He’s stubborn, he’s uncommunicative, and he’s not interested in being your friend. Don’t waste the pretty, and move on! You know the rules: You get what you give, and you ain't getting nothing!”

And that's why I laid there in bed utterly in shock,listening to my phone ring while I stared at my caller ID.

Seriously, I just got him out of my head - again!

C'mon!

Finally, I answer it.

Sounding much more awake and perkier than I was, I heard that familiar deep voice, sexy voice I always loved, “Hey, where did you say you lived again?”

Really? In the middle of the night he wants clarification on where I live?!

“Well, I’m on the road that you live on right now – next to the college. You’re near the college, right?  How far away are you?”

Yes, I’m next to the college….why….what?  Holy crap!

I try to clear my groggy voice, “What are you doing here?”

He tells me that he just came up to help his friend, Stevie, move his parents out of their house, which happened to be literally up the street from me.

DC Dude said that as they were approaching their exit he thought the name looked familiar.  (Well, he had sent me a Christmas card right before we met, but that was nine months ago!)

“So, you’re telling me that you are up the street from me right now, right next to the college? Oh my God, you are so close!"  I started getting excited at the prospect of seeing him again, "Start walking!  Head down the hill, and I will meet you in my driveway!”

Panicking, I throw my clothes on, brush my teeth and try not to look like such a hot mess.

My head is swirling with thoughts and emotions - mostly emotions...

How did this happen?!  He lives 250 miles away!  This is so random!

I get a text and I let out a laugh.

DC Dude: “Soooooo……..DC Dude shows up outta nowheres!”

I laugh. He knows me so well and, damn right, this night will be blogged!

We meet in the driveway of my townhouse complex. The last time I had seen him was in December when we had two feet of snow all around us, and now it was a beautiful fall evening in September, still warm enough for me to wear sandals and a skirt.

As he makes his way towards me up the driveway, he approaches and I say to him, “I don’t know if I should hit you, or hug you.”

(I decided a hug was more appropriate, and lady-like.)

It was an embrace that was long overdue, and a kiss I had been longing for. That moment had been a long-time and coming for the both of us - that I can say with 110% certainty. It just felt right to be in his arms again.

We walked into my house, stopped in the kitchen for a little make-out session, and again a long hug - which he held me for a while, gently rocking me back-and-forth.

We climbed my spiral staircase into my bedroom together. He put his duffel bag on the floor and slowly looked around. I sat on the bed and watched him look at the photographs on my walls. Most of them were from the days when I did a little modeling.

“You used to model?” After few moments of looking bewildered he said, “How come you never got married?”

I don’t know if I even replied to his question or not, but several sarcastic comments did cross my mind, plus the list of reasons I could have given him was just too long to recite – after all, we only had so much time together.

After some more small talk, I had to get my digs in for not staying in touch all these months and never calling - and never taking my calls.

"Carrie, I hate texting. Call me instead.”

Ya, okay, I already tried that and that didn’t work either, fucker. We argued whether or not I had called him, and somehow we got back to his apology again.

“I wanted to say it to your face this time - an apology should be in person.”

I think at that point, I stopped breathing and just stood there looking at him sitting on my bed.

It’s easier for me to get over you when you are the bad guy. Stop being a good guy right now and stop apologizing. That stuff actually hits home with me, so just quit it. Tomorrow you will leave and you will be the bad guy again. There – see? I can do this. Bad guys always leave...

We crawled into bed together. I couldn’t remember when the last time I had shaved my legs - never mind that the Princess was completely o'natural these days, but I didn’t care. Nothing mattered. I just wanted him to hold me in his arms for the rest of the night. I just wanted to feel his naked body against mine.

The following morning we woke up with our legs and arms still entwined around each other. I remember smiling softly withe my arms around him, and thinking there’s a boy in my bed! And it’s DC Dude!

Hell, I thought I had a better chance at winning the lottery than ever seeing him again.

But, there he was, next to me - and we didn’t even have sex. What’s wrong with me?! He tried, he offered, but I just wasn’t in that head space, and he didn’t push it. Condoms were right next to the bed, all ready to go, but dealing with the emotions that surfaced when after finally seeing him again after nine long months there was just too much going on in my head.

For me, sex is something that has to be built up. In this day and age, I probably could be sleeping around like everyone else, but I’m just not built like that. It’s just never been my style. Besides, having a few hours to talk and actually see him was more important to me than anything else. Anyone can have sex, but not everyone can just lay there in bed and feel a connection. I was content just laying there next to him.

(For the record, my friend, Beth, and I argued that "celibate" means no sexual contact, but Dictionary.com gives a meaning of “no sexual intercourse.”So, I’m going with what the dictionary says and, Beth, I’m still celibate!)

The following morning, I wanted to just lay in bed with him, but I knew I had to go to work and he had to go help move furniture, so I got up, showered and got ready for work. DC Dude had checked in with Stevie, and he and his parents invited us to join them for breakfast at one of the local diners. I made a call into boss #1 and told him I was going to be late.

Breakfast was nice, but afterward there was no long good-bye between me and DC Dude. I don’t even know if I looked him in the eyes when I left. I just remember throwing my arms around him and giving him a quick kiss. That was it. Had Stevie’s parents not been there, it probably would have been different because there were so many things I wanted to say, and yet I couldn’t say anything. What was the point?  I had retreated back into my shell knowing the inevitable was going to happen - he was leaving and things would go right back to where they were before he showed up. He wouldn't be calling, and neither would I.

It has taken me two weeks to get this blog finished. Yes, two weeks...along with a half a box of Kleenex, 2.5 bottles of red wine, repeated plays of Adele, The Billygoats, Alison Krauss, Patty Griffin, Shelby Lynne, 10 sticks of Nag Champa, one accidental deletion  of this blog and four complete rewrites to get to this finished.

Maybe, if I wasn’t having my period I could have made it a little funnier.

I'm usually a lot funnier!

Maybe, if it had been someone else, anyone else, besides DC Dude...this wouldn't have been such a big deal.

I feel better now that I've got it all off my chest.  My head is back in the right space.  I'm taking my brother's advice, and look!  My dance card is already starting to fill up again. It's out of my hands. Life goes on. I have faith in God...

....and I'm taking my girl, Patty Griffin's, advice too...that here's beauty in just letting go...

Crazy things have always happened to me – the unexplainable, the weird circumstances that just fall into place. To say the least, it definitely has made my life interesting. I may not always understand it, or agree with it, and sometimes the biggest hurts, ironically, turn out to be the biggest blessings. But no matter what they have always renewed my faith in God.  Life goes on and the crazy, unexplainable things will keep happening…

...like the night DC Dude showed up out of nowheres....

~Carrie