Reflection 1

I was at the laundromat and this guy approached me saying that he knew me from somewhere. He seemed like a cool guy and we exchanged contact information. A few days later he was at the store and asked me to come chill and I said ok. We chilled but he seemed nervous the whole time and he started texting me often after that. I found out later that he was gay and that I had accidentally gone on a date with a gay marine.

I was at the Laundromat and this short black marine said “heyyy.” I said “waddup.” He said “I know you, I’ve been watching you work out at the gym. You’re always there at the same time as me. You’re Puerto Rican aren’t you.” I said “yup.” He said “I love Puerto Ricans.” I thought that this conversation was kind of strange but I gave the guy the benefit of the doubt and we talked some more about military life, philosophy and religion. He seemed really anxious but otherwise cool in my opinion. Before he left he suggested that we exchanged numbers since we both lived on the same base and we could hang out sometime. He texted me the next day asking when we could hang out I told him I didn’t know. He texted me the day after asking the same thing but I had just gotten off of a 24 hour shift and I told him that I was too tired. The day after that he texted me again asking if I wanted to go to the Post Exchange with him and I said ok. When I met him at the Exchange he seemed even more nervous than the first time. We just looked around and nothing seemed to interest him except the clothes. As we were walking we past several attractive women I looked over at him to see if he noticed and he never seemed to. He then suggested that we go watch a movie in a lounge. I sat down on the sofa and he sat down next to me even though there were plenty of other chairs available. He was still acting nervous and he made conversation during the movie. The movie ended and I told him I was going back to my room. When I got back to my room he texted me telling me what a great time he had. The next day he texted me asking when I wanted to hang out again. I told him I was busy but he kept texting me. When he wouldn’t let up it finally hit me that he had been hitting on me the whole time and I hadn’t realized. I was in disbelief in regards to how I could have been so oblivious. I asked a female friend of mine her opinion and she said that the guy was gay and that he was definitely interested in me. She said “Reuben let me handle this.” She texted him saying “I think you have the wrong idea about me.” He immediately freaked out and said that he just wanted to be friends and that he didn’t know what I was talking about. My friend said that his reaction confirmed his suspicion. It turns out that I got asked out and went out on a date with a gay guy without even realizing it.

The long version is the version that actually happened. It is more embarrassing because it shows how naïve I was, however the long version is actually more hilarious. I leave out the stranger details of the beginning dialogue at the Laundromat because they show how clueless I was.