The Polish Guy

I met the Polish guy through yahoo personals.  He had emailed me, it took me a good month or so to email him back, but when I finally did, we exchanged a few emails that same day then talked on the phone that same night.  We got along great over the phone.  He had a nice deep manly voice.  He asked me out for dinner that night, said he could swing by to pick me up.  His pictures looked cute enough.

 

I generally have a rule about letting strangers pick me up in my house, but I do break that rule when I get a good feeling about the person.  I went into his car and as he would later tell me, my face literally fell when I saw him.  He was 24 (I was 23), but he looked about 17 years old.  He had these gorgeous blue eyes, very light blonde hair (I like blondes...) but a baby face of a teenager.  We talked for a bit in the car, trying to find a place that was still open for dinner.  We had no luck, and drove around aimlessly for a bit, then finally went over to Hoboken and found a restaurant that was still open.

 

I had some wonderful mushroom risotto (4 years later I'm still craving that risotto!) and we talked.  A lot.  Really great conversation.  I was comfortable, we were joking around like crazy.  He even showed me his driver's license to prove that he was in fact older than me.  I liked the guy!  I was going to a Matchbox 20 concert two days later that Friday, and knew that the friend coming with me was a bit strapped for cash and had asked me if I could find someone else to go on her place.  So I invited him. 

 

He came to the concert and we had a great time.  After the concert he decided to drive to the beach.  Who cares if it was pretty cold that night, definitely not beach weather?  It sounded like a good idea, I couldn't even remember the last time I went to the beach at night.

 

As we're getting into the LIE, his car starts making a funny noise, it gets worse, so we decide to head back.  The car was really sounding weird now, so we got off in Brooklyn to check out the car.  Soon enough it goes dead on us.  It doesn't turn back on, doesn't even look like it will.  We open the hood, everything is covered in oil.  I call AAA, which meant a good hour or so waiting in the cold (the car wouldn't turn on at all!).  Did I mention this was past 2am?  The tow truck gets there and tows it to a nearby mechanic.  We hop on the subway to head back to NJ, wait forever for the bus back, and finally around 6am we get to my place, where I grab my car and give him a ride home.

 

He was embarrassed as hell.  I, on the other hand, thought the whole thing was freaking hilarious.  I mean, could it have gone more wrong if we tried?  It was still one of my best dates to this day, despite everything going against us.

 

We were hanging out every day after that and a week later we went out of town to the Catskills for a long weekend out of impulse after picking up his car at the mechanic.  It was a great weekend.  The day we got back he introduced me to his parents and grandparents.  I had a great time with him.

We got weird looks everywhere we went -- I was 23, but looked older for my age, he was 24, but as I said, looked 17.  Totally looked like I was robbing the cradle!

 

The chemistry we had was unbelievable!  I have yet to meet someone who matches the chemistry we had.

 

We only dated for 5 weeks, seeing each other almost every day, but at the end, he ended up breaking up with me and going back to his ex, who he had dated for 4 years, but hadn't seen in 6 months.  Somehow being with me made him want to ring up the ex, and one thing led to another. 

 

When he came over to tell me he was getting back with his ex, he told me "everyone told me not to tell you the truth, but I know you, and I know you would prefer to know"  And I really did prefer to know.

 

He's still one of the guys I dated who I remember very fondly.  I'm sure the way he ended things, with such honesty, is part of it.

 

Once in a while I google his name to see what he's been up to, but the search always comes up empty.  I wonder if he ever married her, and if he's happy.  And honestly?  I hope he is.  (If not, Gabriel, give me a call!)