The Ryan Story (part 3)

part 1

part 2

part 3: Eleven Days

The day after we went bowling..its a Sunday

its after 9, the phone rings. we have caller ID, but it doesn't recognize his phone number.

I answer the phone, ready to hang up at the first sign of a telemarketer or prank call.

hello?

hi, may I speak to Ireland?

it's me.

oh, hey! it's Ryan.

meanwhile, I'm wondering how the heck he got my phone number.
I run upstairs so my parents can't hear me on the phone.

what's up?

nothing. I was just calling to say "hi".

this is where my common sense kicks in and says
"he's lying. no one ever calls just to say 'hi'" and when I get really confused and curious. what could he possibly want at 9pm?

one hour and several awkward silences later, my sister comes upstairs and sees me sitting with the phone, silently.
you're still on the phone?!

I ask her what she wants, and she just says "Is it Ryan?"
I nod. She holds her hand out for the phone.

I hand it to her, wondering what the heck she could possibly want to talk to him about.

later I found out that she had been talking to him for a few weeks via Facebook, trying to convince him to call me and ask me out -- that traitor gave him our number.

she tells me to go downstairs while she talks to him, which has me very worried and even more confused. when she finally calls me back upstairs, she hands me the phone silently and leaves the room.

what was that about? I ask him.

nothing. liar.

eventually he tries a circuituous route to the subject he wants to talk about. apparently he's been stalking my facebook profile...

I still find it hard to believe that you've never had a boyfriend.

I don't.

why not? what's not to like? what the heck? a lot -- that's what's not to like.

I don't know, I just don't really think about this stuff much. liar. what am I talking about?

well....would you consider...dating a guy like me? well there it is, Ireland. you asked for it.

but the way he says it- "a guy like me" what does that mean?
looking back, my caught-off-guard-and-therefore-completely-honest reply was: I guess.

does that not scream of excitement?

cool.

2 hours later I finally hang up. and no, we weren't talking that long. most of it was more long silences. I'm very anti-social and in fact hate talking on the phone.
and he apparently had nothing to say either.

this is starting off on a wonderful note.
not.

-to be continued-