So this post goes out to a guy named Rick (I changed the name just in the highly unlikely chance that Rick ever stumbles upon this blog... although I'm sure he'll still know who he is).
The tale starts on a bright, sunny July morning in the summer of '08. That was a good summer for Eugene, what with the Olympic trials going on. There were people everywhere, and it wasn't uncommon to bump into a stranger and make small talk about the trials, particularly when you live about 2 blocks off campus, which I did at the time.
One morning my coworker Alice and I decided to meet at Allann Bro's coffee and carpool to work together. I got there early enough to buy my latte and scone, and as I was walking toward the door, a guy approached me from my right. Assuming he was looking at something on my other side, I kept walking until he said, "You look really familiar." I stopped, to see if he was talking to me, and he was so I said, "Oh yeah?" He proceeded to ask me if I had taken any classes at Lane, and when I told him no, that I went to the U of O, he asked if I was in the business school there because he was certain that we had taken a class together. I told him no, that I was an English student, and made my way toward the coffee shop. "So what's your name?" I heard form behind me. Wow, he's persistent, I think, and tell him my name is Charlotte. "I'm Rick." Insert awkward, limp handshake.. He proceeded to ask me if I'd ever like to go to coffee, and I told him no, but thank you very much.
So that was it, nothing too entirely out of the ordinary, although it seemed clear that he was really working hard to come up with a place we'd met. I laughed about it for a little while and that was it. End scene.
We pick up over a year later at the Safeway on 18th. Charlotte is looking for tampons, of all things, and is approached from behind. "You look really familiar... have you taken any classes at Lane?" Suddenly I flash back to that summer day, and I can't imagine it's the same person but I turn around and sure enough, there he is. He's even wearing the same backwards hat. I laugh a little, smile, and shake my head, "Nope." He proceeds to go through the same conversation we had two summers earlier, and I'm just dying inside. It ends the same as it did before, although this time I have a boyfriend so I include that in my gentle refusal. When I get home, I'm telling the story to a few girls in my house, and one of my housemates starts to freak out. "I saw that guy too! Just down the street! He used the same line on me!" We laugh and laugh, and, again, I think that's the end, forget about it eventually, and don't give it much thought again.
You might think that's as ridiculous as this story can get. Same guy, a year and a half later, using the same line on multiple girls in the same day. Pretty unreal. But no, the story continues.
Last week, I'm shopping at Fred Meyer for ingredients for pumpkin bread. I'm in a kind of sad mood because I had just found out I didn't get a job I had applied for, so I'm planning on baking my sorrows away before throwing a Christmas party that night. As I debate about which festive paper plates to buy, I see a guy in my peripheral. I had noticed a guy behind me when I walked in the door, but didn't think much of it. However, this is definitely the same red coat. I play dumb and act Really interested in the paper plates. But sure enough, I hear the words that I know are coming: "You look really familiar! Have you ever taken any classes at Lane?" I'm dying at this point. A lot of strange things have happened to me, but this is just absolutely absurd. My first instinct is to say, "The reason I look familiar is that we've had this conversation before... twice." But as I run it through my head, I realize I don't know his story and don't want to say anything terribly rude because he's basically harmless. So instead I just have the same conversation one last time. "I'm Rick, would you maybe want to go to coffee sometime?" Less gently this time, "No thank you, have a nice day," and I turn back to my paper plates. Poor Rick.
Needless to say, the rest of my shopping trip is spent trying to suppress raucous laughter. God must have a sense of humor.
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