An Unconventional Love Story - Part 2

This is the second part of how Scott and I met, were best friends and eventually (after 7 years) more. I posted the first part of this unconventional love story on Valentine's Day and as expected, Scott had many corrections which he posted in the comments section. I can't believe I was a whole year off as to when Scott came to visit me at my parents house. The mystery person that he refers to on that trip was my younger brother, Matt. He and Scott never met each other before my brother died...I wish they could have known each other and I know that Scott wishes it even more so.
So here I go with part 2...I wish my memory was half as good as Scott's. Be sure to check the comments section because I'm sure he'll come out of hiding to set the record straight.

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About nine months after I graduated college I finally landed a job in "the big city." I lived in the smallest studio apartment ever (from my twin bed I could practically make ramen noodles on the stove!). Scott, too, lived in "the big city" in a slightly larger studio apartment. He worked at an advertising agency with our friend Yael.

After 9 months I ended up landing a job at the same agency as Scott and Yael. We spent plenty of time together as friends...going out to lunch, running errands, hanging out with other college friends. At some point we realized that if we pooled our money we might be able to afford a decent 2 bedroom apartment instead of the dumps we were currently living in.

In December of 1998 (5 years after we became friends), Scott and I became roommates. We found a great 2 bed/2 bathroom apartment and spent even more time hanging out together. Now we went grocery shopping together and bought household stuff together. To the outside world we looked like a couple. But we were just best friends and roommates.

Neither Scott nor I were ever much of daters. I had a few boyfriends during my friendship with him even while we traveled in Europe or lived together. Sometime after becoming roommates (I have no idea how long though) Scott started seeing a girl. One night a group of friends including him, her and me went to dinner. Afterward I was dropped off at home and Scott and his date left to go do something else.

All of a sudden, alone in our apartment, I was struck with severe stomach pains. I thought for sure I had food poisoning. But doubled over on my bathroom floor I started to feeling something else. The green-eyed monster was making me sick...jealousy! I was shocked, flabbergasted, overwhelmed! No...No way could I be jealous...Scott was just my best friend. No, no, no! I must be mistaken. It's simply not possible.

But once I came to terms with what was making me physically ill, I started to feel better. But I had to figure out what to do. Do I say something to him? ("Hey Scott, umm, uhh, I think I like you?!?!?!") Do I pretend like these feelings don't exist? Maybe then they'd magically dissapear?

I was convinced that the girl he had just started dating was already on her way out the door. So I decided to wait until their relationship ran it's course before doing anything. And maybe in the meantime, my feelings would go away.

And I really hoped that they'd vanish. What if he laughed at me if I confessed how I felt? Or more scary yet, what if he thought we should give it a try? We were best friends in every sense of the words and we shared nearly all our friends. If things didn't work out it would be the end of an amazing friendship and very uncomfortable for our friends. It would mean finding new homes and splitting time with friends to aviod each other and being best friendless.

He and the girl stopped seeing each other. My feelings were as strong as ever. Uh, oh!

I've already mentioned how ridiculously bad my memory is so the next part of the story is really fuzzy. At some point I finally said something to him. Quite honestly, I'm guessing I got liquored up to help my nerves.

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And I'm thinking this is a good stopping point...These posts are way longer than I anticipated.

Until next time...