Alewife Bus Encounter: Part II

 Wonder Woman lived in Somerville, so the perfect place to meet, half-way between her apartment and mine, was Davis Square on the border of Cambridge and Somerville. We met at a casual bar for a beer, then walked along the street to go to an Italian restaurant for dinner. WW was born in Vietnam and moved to Canada with her parents at the age of two. She was Canadian but had moved to Boston that year after graduation from the University of Toronto with a PhD to work in the Biotech industry which was booming. We got along extremely well and, shortly after leaving the restaurant, found ourselves kissing passionately in the doorway of a closed coffee shop. WW invited me to go to her apartment for a glass of wine and so we stopped at the liquor store a few steps from where we embraced, picked up some wine, and walked back to her apartment. I remember thinking it was incredible that she invited me to watch a film but had no TV. She proceeded to pull a projector out of the cupboard, place it on top of her printed PhD on the coffee table, and project the film onto the wall. Needless to say, we saw very little of the film. 

                  This was just a few days before Christmas and so we had to say a brief goodbye because she was flying home to Toronto to be with her family for Christmas. It gave us time to anticipate the next meeting and to continue to get to know each other through messages over the Christmas period. Her return brought a period of great passion… and also exploration of restaurants and bars and places of interest around the area. We spent two or three nights during week together as well as the weekends. 

                  After a few months, WW openly told me that, although she was having a lot of fun and really enjoying my company, I was ‘not the one’. Long term she wanted something else. I asked her what it was that she was looking for but she said she didn’t know, she only knew that I was not what she was looking for. Our friendship brought me a lot of happiness and, of course, the intimacy was wonderful, too, so I continued in spite of this heartbreaking knowledge that I was not what she wanted. 

                  We continued to explore, we continued to spend a lot of time together, and the physical and emotional connection remained… but the topic continued to resurface. Mid-year, she took a trip to Las Vegas with a group of girlfriends to celebrate a birthday and I stayed at her place to take care of her cat. Of course, being in her apartment with her cat gave me a lot of time to think… and to start to suffer. I took her bicycle to a nearby bike shop and got it completely repaired and serviced while she was away simply because I wanted to do good things for her but, I suppose, in some form of unconscious hope of showing her I could be what it was that she was looking for. 

                  A few weeks later, we went to a party at the Institute of Contemporary Art in downtown Boston. I was a member and this gave me and a friend free entry into the party with discounts on drinks. Very early on in the evening, as we were enjoying a drink outside at the ICA and watching dusk set in over the Atlantic Ocean, some guy walked up, put his head between ours, interrupted our conversation and started to flirt with WW. I smiled at first because I was sure that she would tell him he was rude. Instead, she started to talk and smile flirtatiously, then she entered her number into his phone giving her full first and last names. I simply walked away and walked out. She ran after me and followed as I walked into the Boston night with my heart bleeding. I found a bar, walked inside and ordered a scotch. She sat beside me and I asked if she would like one. We spent the night drinking scotch and delving into the depths of emotional conversation. She admitted, however, that she kept staring at her phone hoping to see a message from the interruptor. 

                  This was the tipping point. I had to admit that the pain was too much. We ended things. We remained friends for a while, but I was still too attracted and attached so, in time, she cut me off completely. 

                   Today she is nothing more than a beautiful memory. 


Drinks with WW at McGreevy's on Boyle Street, Boston, 4th of July 2018. 

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