An Interesting Week
Heavy metal. From the War is the Answer album, released in 2009. More info from Wikipedia.
This entry marks the end of what has been quite an interesting week. I need not waste time stalling, so we'll start with Monday.
Monday comes around and I don't waste time getting out of bed and on my way to Florida. My plans involved me going to see someone whom I haven't seen in over 14 years and is technically my first girlfriend: Kendyl. I got to her place in Apopka a little later than I told her, due to traffic and a couple unexpected stops, but she assured me that it wasn't a problem. Our first stop was to hit up a putt putt golf place, and the only one that came to both of our minds was Congo River Golf in Altamonte Springs. So we jump in my car and set out for Altamonte, all the while talking and catching up on how we've been over the years. We played one round of golf, and even though we were both practically cheating, she won. Of course, she doesn't like playing putt putt, so it was shocking to her to find that she beat me. And no, I didn't let her win.
Afterwards, we were both hungry, so we stopped off at a place not far from Congo River called Bahama Breeze. The food was awesome, but it was a bit pricey. I didn't let this affect me, as I treated Kendyl to dinner and a drink.
Once we consumed our late lunch/early dinner, we went around the corner and hit up the movie theater. We watched Paranormal Activity 2, and it was a great time. Kendyl jumped and flinched quite often, whereas I was laughing nearly the whole time. Besides, there was only myself, Kendyl and two other couples in there, so I'm pretty sure my laughter wasn't an annoyance.
After getting a good series of laughs, Kendyl and I set out to get some ice cream at Brusters. I got more than what I could finish, so I felt bad wasting nearly half my cone. But it was a pleasant experience nonetheless.
By the time I dropped Kendyl off at her place, it was just after 8 PM. I still had a two-hour drive ahead of me, so I said my goodbyes and left. It was good seeing Kendyl again, but truthfully, I was more excited about what lay in store for me later that night.
Still full of energy, I set out on the two-hour drive to Tampa. Cassie recently got her own apartment, and I was ecstatic to see what it was like. After a few minutes of searching around for her apartment building, I finally found it; a small, one-story apartment complex of about 20 little one-bedroom apartments. Cassie's was right on the end, so it was easy to find, of course, once I found the building itself. I don't know if I was more excited to see the apartment, or to see Cassie for the first time since April. There were a lot of mixed feelings on the matter, but given the way we've been in contact with one another, the feelings were more good than bad.
Cassie showed me her little place, and I readily agreed with her on it's simplicity and convenience. Personally, I think it suits her perfectly: her own place where she's away from the stress and drama that goes on at her parents' house, all the while still being relatively close to them.
Cassie was in the middle of watching a movie in her bedroom when I arrived, then invited me to watch it with her. Since her apartment was lacking any furniture other than her bed and computer desk, we watched the movie in her bed. She has a small twin-size mattress, but we both fit on it nicely. Cassie climbed under the blankets to watch the movie, whereas I just sat/laid on top. Before long, the unexpected happened. Cassie asked if could lay with me, and without missing a beat, I allowed it. Of course, Cassie didn't miss a beat either and quickly laid her head on my chest and watched the movie. I guess I was more comfortable than she remembered (last time she cuddled with me was when we were dating two years ago) and she quickly fell asleep. I managed to stay awake for the duration of the movie, then turned the TV off as soon as it finished and fell asleep with Cassie still laying on my chest. It was no surprise to find her still laying on my chest in the same exact position as she had fallen asleep in, and for the first time in quite a while, I woke up feeling larger than life.
After we were both awake, we went to where Cassie holds a rather important job. Her current job is at a thrift store, and while some may regard this as unappealing, I thought it was an excellent choice. Not to mention, I quickly discovered that Cassie was the assistant store manager! I was completely impressed and quite proud of her, of course not missing the chance to congratulate her on this position.
We browsed around for a little bit (Cassie actually had to work later that day, but we were up there just to pass time), then decided that food was more important. Since I promised her Applebee's the next time I came down, our lunch idea was quickly decided. We ate good, had some laughs, and the atmosphere was relaxing. Of course, every time Cassie and I have gone to Applebee's, we never got any un-pleasantries.
Food of course, has an effect on one's energy, and we both found that it'd be a good time to just go back to the apartment and take a nap. For some background noise, we put Charlie and the Chocolate Factory into the DVD player and started to watch it. This time, Cassie didn't ask if she could lay with me; she knew what the answer would be and wasted no time taking advantage of it. As one would expect, she ended up falling asleep again, with me staying awake to watch the movie.
When Cassie awoke from her nap, the unimaginable happened. She looked at me, half-awake, and by some freak of nature, she started to make out with me as if we were dating. I was stunned but didn't hesitate to return the affection. As one may have guessed, one thing led to another and before long, we were both naked in bed getting on with our bad selves.
Unfortunately, this little charade didn't last long at all. Two minutes in, Cassie broke down crying, saying that she couldn't be like this with me, even though I could clearly tell she wanted to. It was a major turn-off, but after hearing that she valued our new budding friendship, I saw that it was the respectful thing to do. I comforted her, both of us sitting up in bed still naked, then proceeded to get dressed. Not long after we got dressed, Cassie had to get up to work.
While Cassie was at work, I originally planned on hanging out in her apartment playing on her N64 until she was ready to be picked up (I dropped her off at work). However, because it was such a slow day, I decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea to go see her at work. I turned off the N64, grabbed her keys to the apartment, then set off for the ten-minute drive to her work. Once there, I just lounged around, walking around with her and helping her with menial tasks. With her new position, she almost always closes every night she works, and the store closed at 8 PM. So once the store was closed, we set off for dinner, then a movie with her friend Jessica. We watched Saw 3-D, another horror flick that I found hilarious. The only bad part about the movie was that because it started so late, we weren't going to finish it until even later. Not to mention, I had a six-hour drive ahead of me the following morning. We did finish the movie, then went right back to the apartment to sleep. Unlike the first two nights, however, Cassie didn't cuddle up with me. Truth be told, I was a little upset, but I reminded myself of why she's not cuddling with me, and I dealt with it.
Wednesday morning came around all too fast, and not long after I fell asleep Tuesday night (which at the time was technically Wednesday morning) I found myself being awakened by my phone alarm. Cassie and I both knew that this was our cue to get up and get ready to set out for Beaufort. And much like every other trip from Beaufort to Cassie's (and vice versa), it was uneventful. Cassie fell asleep during the ride, which was perfectly acceptable. I mean, she wasn't driving (since she can't drive standard transmission cars), so what else was she to do? Not to mention, it was pretty early in the morning and we didn't get a lot of sleep prior to the trip. Had I been in her shoes, I would have done the same thing.
We got to Beaufort right around 1 PM, which is what I was hoping the time would be upon arrival. I let Cassie get onto my computer while I played a couple games of Modern Warfare and Rock Band. Before long, I found that I was completely drained, so I took a short 20-minute nap. Feeling refreshed (kinda) from the nap, I jumped in the shower to get ready for the Ball.
The Ball was nothing exciting. In fact, it was practically the same thing I went through two years ago when I went in Japan, with the only notable differences being the fact that I was in a new unit, I was wearing my Blues instead of what's known as my pickle suit, and I had a date. The ceremony took a while, but it was to be expected. Once the ceremony finished, dinner was being served. Leave it to hotel staff to fuck up a wet dream, because they decided that the least preferred entree would be better to start with. Out of the three choices for dinner, salmon was at the bottom. And of course, they started serving the people who ordered it first, notwithstanding the fact that the most popular choice (chicken, of which Cassie and I had) would be better to start with. This irked me a little, as I was partially paranoid about making sure to get Cassie back onto base before 10 PM. As a side note, my intent was to get Cassie on base before ID checks started so that the gate guards wouldn't raise an eyebrow. However, this didn't concern me as much as actually getting Cassie into the barracks did. Fortunately, my luck held. I got Cassie onto base without a problem (She was being accompanied by me, so I was essentially her sponsor), and it was even easier to get her into my room. Thank God for the recent room changes; if I were still in my old room, it would have been next to impossible to get her in. I convinced Cassie to talk to Josh, the kid that thinks I'm a girl in an online game I play. However, it wasn't your normal talk; Cassie physically called him and spoke to him. This was a little promise I made to the kid in reward for reaching the goals he set, and Cassie had no problems backing me up. She called him and talked for about 15 minutes, while I stood in the room and watched, biting my towel to keep from lauging. After the little comedy bit, I put Planet 51 on via my Xbox so Cassie and I could watch it before falling asleep. Cassie slept on the spare bed that I have in this room (the room I'm in is meant to accomodate two Marines, but I don't have a roommate), and that pretty much summed up Wednesday night. I think at one point after I fell asleep, she jumped on my computer, but I already told her that I wouldn't care if she did.
Thursday morning rolls around and once more, Cassie and I are back on the road. Only difference is that we left an hour early so we could avoid any potential issues getting her out of the barracks undetected. Once more, things went without a hitch and I got her out of the barracks and off base with ease, thus starting the six-hour drive back to Pinellas. As one may have guessed, Cassie fell asleep, sleeping more on the way back home than on the way up to Beaufort. Again, I didn't care and I would have expected nothing less.
We got back to Cassie's place and lounged around for a couple hours until she had to get to work. When the time came, I once again dropped her off and returned to her apartment, playing the N64 to pass time. I got another text from her a little later on, saying she was thirsty, so I decided it'd be best to run a drink up to her. Of course, I ended up staying there after I did, but it's not like I had anything better to do. When it was about time to close, Cassie realized that she accidentally locked her keys in her office. Panicking, she called one of the other managers asking for the keys. And since I was the only one there that could technically leave (I wasn't technically supposed to be there anyway - it was after 8 PM), I ran to her associate's house and picked up her keys then drove them back to the store. To much relief, Cassie found her keys and got the store closed up minutes later.
Our first stop after closing shop was Cassie's colleage's house so we could return the keys to her. We ended up staying for a few minutes, since Cassie wanted to talk. I ended up playing with the dog - she was a cute pup and was really playful, so I didn't mind. After the brief conversation, Cassie and I headed out to Chili's so we could take advantage of the Veteran's Day deals. Chili's, Applebee's and a small handful of other restaurants were offering free meals to active duty personnel and veterans, so I ended up scoring free dinner. However, the event turned into a disaster and practically ruined a huge majority of the remainder of my trip.
Cassie found out that I texted Hollis telling her exactly what happened on Sunday, and she lost her shit. She was extremely pissed off at me, and it was actually for good reason. We ended up spending somewhere near an hour and half at Chili's talking, and towards the end of the meal, things seemed to go back to an awkward normal for us. Well, about as normal as it could be, considering Cassie was still pissed off at me.
I remember getting back to her apartment and sending a couple miscellaneous texts, then falling right asleep. I don't know how long it was before Cassie did the same, but it didn't really matter. It was her place; she could do whatever she wanted.
Friday. The last day I was down in Florida with Cassie, and it turned out to be a bad day. Things didn't go right for the both of us at all. I was still dwelling on the events that occured the night prior, Cassie was freaking out because the internet installation tech didn't show up on time, her boss was randomly pissed off, etc. It was a busy day despite how bad it was; ranging from chauffeuring Cassie and Shelby around and walking aimlessly through Tyrone Mall, stopping in random stores to browse. We did stop in GameStop, where Cassie ended up buying me Call of Duty: Black Ops. The way she did it was subtle; asking me to try and find her a decent PC game while she talked to some guy in the store about the game. I glanced over for a quick second and found Cassie was stuffing something in a GameStop bag into her purse. At this point, my mind started to assume that she bought the game for me, and after taking a second to realize that Cassie wasn't looking through the PC games with me, it was confirmed. I just didn't let her know that I already knew what she did.
We returned to Cassie's apartment some time later, after stopping at a few other thrift stores looking for cheap furniture Cassie could get for her apartment. This didn't turn out good either, since all the thrift stores we found were way over-priced in comparison to the store Cassie worked for and we ended up getting lost trying to find the last one we stopped at. On our way back, I dropped Cassie off at Walmart so she could get the needed items for the dinner she planned on making, while I drove back to her apartment to pick up the movie we rented the night prior. As a side note, we thought the movie we rented would be good, but the acting was terrible. It was an unheard-of kid-based animated film where the voice-overs were pathetic. It would have appealed to a kid no older than the age of four. Seriously, it was that bad. I ended up falling asleep through it, and when Cassie heard me start to snore, she too noticed that it was an ideal time to turn it off and retire for the evening. But I'm digressing at this point.
The dinner Cassie made, despite how bad the day turned out, was delicious. I've never heard of Impossible Taco Pie, and Cassie got the recipe from her mother and made it. It was excellent and a good way to finish off the remainder of the day. After Steven and Shelby left (they ate over), Cassie jumped on her computer while I sent texts to Josh. We had a small conversation about how I wasn't happy and that Cassie would wish I'd cheer up because she didn't want my visit ending on a sour note. I agreed with her, but I had no idea how I'd "relax and calm down". So what did I do? I went outside to my car. Cassie thought for a second that I was leaving (at least I think that's what she thought), but I left my wallet in her room, proving to her that I wasn't going anywhere.
Out at my car, I started to tidy up my trunk while listening to music through my stereo. My efforts paid off, and I returned to Cassie's room in a better mood, after having spent nearly an hour outside lost in thought. For some reason, however, I felt that it wasn't enough, so I slipped my flip flops on and went back outside. Cassie asked where I was off too, and when I told her I was going back out to my car, I told her it was a secret and that I'd be back shortly. I ended up spending another half hour or so outside, when Cassie sent a text asking where I was. When I told her I was out at my car, she came out and investigated. I didn't want her to really see what I was doing (info to come), but she saw anyway and started inquiring about it. I told her it was a note to her, but she couldn't see what it said. Partially content, she went back inside to allow me to finish writing. I wrote the note in a little book that I found from my MOS school (what memories!) and kept it in my pocket so she wouldn't finagle it and read it before I wanted her to. I fell asleep a short time later, since I had to be up massively early to drive back to Beaufort in the morning.
When the unfortunate time rolled around, I woke Cassie up to tell her the time, and didn't waste any time getting dressed and scooping up my jacket, keys, wallet and phone. I got a hug from her and left, leaving the notebook on her kitchen counter for her to read and look at later in the morning when she woke up. I still don't know if she's read it or not.
As expected, the drive back was uneventful, but I made it in near-record time. The fastest I've ever made the trip from Cassie's house to the barracks was exactly six hours; I made it back in six hours, five minutes. I could have beaten my self-proclaimed record time had I not pussy-footed around with a cop that was on the Interstate in the last tens of miles in Georgia. On that note, I'm quite pissed about it. Some county sherrif was on the interstate, and as one would have expected, everyone made sure not to speed past him for fear of getting pulled over. At one point, someone in our little group of ten plus cars pulled ahead, so I wasted no time following suit. I passed the cop and as expected, he did nothing; he actually passed me again at one point. Figuring it was safe to resume speed, I resumed my cruise control at 80 MPH and eventually passed him for good. I'm thoroughly convinced that had I not bothered with the little cluster-fuck I spent 15 minutes dealing with, I would have beaten my six-hour driving time record. Cassie called me about 15 minutes before I got back to the air station, checking to make sure I was okay and if I made it. The conversation was a relaxing a happy one, and I didn't even think about anything negative that happened between Cassie and I over the past 36 hours.
Whew, that was a huge summary of the past week. In retrospect, I don't regret the trip at all; it allowed for a wide range of emotions and feelings to return. Against everything I've said months ago, I actually don't regret these feelings and I actually welcome them. Over the past few days, I've learned that Cassie is interested in forming a new friendship with me, maybe even another chance of a relationship in the future. However, we'll never be able to reach that stage again unless I do some serious self-analysis and mend my ways. I need to discover what it is in my head that is preventing me from trusting her, as well as what it is that makes me absent-mindedly stab her in the back. And as surprising as it may seem, I feel that this is something I want to work toward. Even if I never do get the chance to be with Cassie again on a more-than-friends basis, I think I can be perfectly content knowing that she's a good friend that will always be there for me when it's needed, provided I can fix my ways.
With that, I think I'm done. I've dragged this on far longer than I probably should have, but sticking true with tendencies, the result of speaking my mind is a lengthy update. I guess that's just me.