Upset Stomach, Heartburn...

"Nausea! Heartburn! Indigestion! Upset Stomach! Diarrheaaaa! Pepto-Bismol!" ~ Pepto commercial

Okay, so just before Christmas, one of my friends and her new roommate organized a "holiday pub crawl." It was a pretty big group of people that ended up going...about 18 of us all together. This was my first time meeting the roommate, whom I will call Mike.

Mike is a very personable, attractive guy who my friend found through Craigslist. They have been roomies for about three months now and one of my other friends had met Mike and told me that she wanted me to meet him because she thought Mike and I would hit it off. Seems she was right...kind of.

Well, on the pub crawl, Mike had brought along a sprig of mistletoe and as the evening wore on, Mike spent more and more time chasing me around with that damn sprig. At one point, he lost the mistletoe and then was grabbing me and pulling me under any Christmas decoration saying, "look, mistletoe," to which I'd say, "dude, that's not mistletoe," but we'd kiss anyway. We hit seven pubs and had a drink (or two) at each one, so everyone was pretty tipsy. I am not typically the type to be too cozy with a guy I have just met, but between the mistletoe and the beers and the fact that Mike seemed really great, well, there was some kissing.

The next morning, I had to drive up to my folks' place for the holiday (fun tip as an aside: don't do a pub crawl the night before a seven-hour drive...ow). Mike sent me a text saying that he hoped I was feeling okay and that I had a safe trip and he apologized if he came on a little strong the night before. I wrote back, said no worries -- it was fun. I threw my crap in my car and drove off for a week in Ohio without giving it much additional thought.

The day after Christmas, I got another text from Mike saying merry Christmas and asking me for my email. A couple of days later, I got an email inviting me to a New Year's party at Mike and my friend's place. Somewhere in there, I came down with a REALLY nasty cold and wasn't able to go to work on Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday, Mike called me -- I was in bed (sick), but he left me a voice mail checking to see that I'd gotten the email and to see if I was going to be able to make it to the NYE party. I sent him a text saying I was going to try to rally and make an appearance. On NYE day, I went to work for a half day and then came home and slept.

I headed over to the party around 9 pm and when I got there, there were several people there already. Mike came over and said hi and then we all milled around chatting with other folks. Eventually, everyone decided to move to a pub and so off we went. Once we got to the pub, Mike pretty much hung out next to me...only. We chatted and kept finding things that we had in common...things that I didn't find all that startling, but he seemed amazed by (like the fact that we both drink Guinness or liked to go camping). Over the course of the evening, Mike asked me if I wanted to go out on Saturday and I said sure. He also invited me to a standing happy hour that he hosts every Friday. However, both of these discussions took place during the middle of our time out, and we didn't talk about them again.

On New Year's day, I felt crappy and stayed in bed. Friday was my first day back to work after having been sick and it really knocked me out. I felt awful and was just exhausted. So I sent Mike a text saying that I was dead and didn't think that I was going to make it to happy hour, but that if the offer to do something on Saturday still stood, I was game. He quickly wrote back saying tomorrow sounded good. I said I'd call him in the afternoon. Good. I was actually really excited about getting to hang out with him out of the context of a holiday and just the two of us.

So today around 3 pm, I get a text from Mike saying "I just wanted to let u know that I'm not feeling too well, and that tonight might not be such a good idea...sorry." Hmm. So I called him right back. He said that his stomach was feeling a little upset and that while he "really wanted to go out," it probably was better for both of us if we didn't get together. Hmm. I said that was okay and that I was disappointed because I had been looking forward to seeing him, but I hoped he felt better soon. He replied that he had to go out and run some errands, he could pick up some Pepto-Bismol and see if that helped. Uh, no...I said he should really just try to rest.

Now...could he be feeling icky? Absolutely. But here's the reason that I think he just blew me off. He said that he hoped he hadn't ruined my evening and I said no worries and then he was like, "well, there's always next weekend," and I said, "Oh?" (totally opening it up for a more firm offer). And he said, "sure, we'll get together some other time." Totally noncommittal...a total brush off. Am I right? I don't know. Then, less than 10 minutes into the conversation, he said he was going to "get off here and go take care of some stuff." I could be completely wrong, but my gut tells me that I won't hear from Mike again. And that actually really bums me out...more than it should because I hardly know the guy.

And seriously, what happened in the three days that completely turned things around? Maybe nothing. Maybe I'm totally overreacting. Maybe I've just been blown off too many times in the past...past bad experiences are tainting this little one. I should give him the benefit of the doubt...right? After all, I canceled on him on Friday because I wasn't feeling well.

It is just that it always hurts to get rejected (and yes, that is kind of how this feels), but it is particularly frustrating coming from a guy who was pursuing ME. HE is the one who followed me around with the mistletoe, who invited me out for New Year's, and who asked me out for this evening. I didn't push any of this, yet I'm the one who feels lousy now because I'm sitting on my a** on a Saturday night.

And yeah, maybe he's feeling lousy, too. And who knows, maybe he'll surprise me and get in touch. But I doubt it. Gosh, I hate the fact that I feel like such a GIRL about all of this. So I'm just going to take a deep breath and tell myself that I'm being lame. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the real one.

But seriously, every false start feels just a little more disheartening. It's enough to make a girl just want to give up.