The More Things Change...

Times just kept on going like they had been, without much to talk about.  She went to visit a friend in the hospital a few times as she had surgery, then complications to the surgery.  Once that was past she was out and about and up to going out to lunch and she didn't feel the need to worry about her any longer.

She almost jumped back into directing with a festival her friend was writing for, but in the end she didn't respect what the other director was doing and bowed out.  She did recommend Red to act in the production, and she ended up getting in and doing an amazing job.

She and BB were getting into a strange non-dating schedule.  They would usually interact once or twice a week, and see each other about once or twice a month.  She was still enjoying his company, but didn't really see him as a potential love interest any longer.  He had become a great friend and she no longer wanted to change that in order to love and to eventually leave. 

She did still have those thoughts whenever BB would say something like she always flirts with him, but then remembered that they always hung out by themselves and he hadn't seen her interact with other people to understand that's just want she was like.

It was getting a bit lonely living the single life, but she was settling into it.  She told everyone over and over again that if there was a potential for a relationship that was nice, but it had to be better than she was being by herself.  In the end, there weren't any worth the trouble.

Non-Dating

Since she and BB had decided that they were going to be friends, they made a schedule of switching off making non-dates.  They had talked on their first date about how both of them seem to attract narcissistic people, and so this was a nice fair and balanced way to spend time together.  It seemed like the perfect plan.

Until it wasn't.

Other people in their lives were determined to ruin what had become the perfect friendship.

BB's father was in a band with one of her theatre acquaintances, and one night they decided to go out and see them perform.

Upon entering the bar, she saw a barrage of theatre friends who were already a few drinks in.  They yelled at her, greeted her, and she introduced them to BB.  They gave her the eyebrow wiggle, and she quickly shook her head no.  They respected it, but she was already on the defensive.

She spent the rest of the evening making it perfectly clear that they were just friends.  The last thing she wanted to do was make it awkward for him.

Of course later it came out that his friends gave him a very hard time about it, while hers had let that nod say everything.  He seemed to be miserable, while she felt okay about it.  She wondered how long until they had to stop being friends.

The Last Straw

For the first time in a long time she'd actually gotten a sweet message on the dating app.  Their conversation had been good, but scheduling conflicts prevented them from meeting for a couple of weeks.

They were too alike, and too nice, and kept coming up against dancing around the issue of dating.

Once they finally met up, they had a 3 hour long brunch.  The conversation never stopped, neither of them wanting to actually leave or suggest moving onto a new location.  Though she felt a strong connection with him, something was missing.  The sexual attraction.  She didn't feel anything coming from him in regards to her, though he did call her pretty.

A day after the date, he messaged her.  Their date had been great, and wonderful, but he had realized that he was not in a place where he could be in a relationship.  He hoped that they could be friends.

She hoped that they could be friends too.  But she also went directly onto all the apps and deactivated all of her accounts.  She was done being hurt again.