Friends and Fighting

I don't want to chronicle all the events that transpire between Mr. Perfect and me, but the important ones I think deserve blogging. Last weekend I met his friends (rather I should say friend, singular, and her friends.) and had a fairly awkward time. I blamed it on the tiredness and lack of food. This weekend, I organized a bowling outing for my co-workers and brought Mr. Perfect along with me. This wasn't just a casual outing of friends, this was a full staff outing with about 35 teachers, administrators, secretaries, and even some of the maintenance crew. And I was in charge of it all, from set up to paying. Mr. Perfect came with me early so I could talk to the managers and get all the lanes set up, we had dinner while I anxiously waited for everyone else to show up. Of course the administrators and staff I hardly know were the first to arrive, and I had to introduce Mr. Perfect to all my principals before any of my friends even got there! I was nervous, and I forgot to introduce him to one of the assistant principals, and I kind of was freaking out the entire time.

Once everyone got there and we got set up, I was a bit calmer but still stressed because of the money situation, making sure everyone paid, so I didn't get stuck with a huge bill at the end with no cash to cover it. I kind of left Mr. Perfect to fend for himself for parts of the evening, and for the most part he did well. He talked to all of my friends and their significant others, and didn't seem to be awkward or struggling to have fun at all. Maybe he's not socially awkward after all? Towards the end of the night I noticed him standing by himself not talking to anyone. I waved him to come over where I was talking to one of the guidance counselors, but he shook his head and stayed put. When I went over to see if he was ok, he said he just wanted to some time to decompress and was fine. My friends from school were all planning on going out after the bowling event, and I knew that Mr. Perfect would not have had a good time if we went. I declined partying further with my friends to ensure we had some time to spend together that night. It was the nicest night we've spent together to date, and he may be close to telling me something I'm not exactly ready for. I don't think he is either, which is why I'm glad he didn't say it just yet. He did tell me that I have a big piece of his heart, which is close enough for me right now. I stayed until about 2 the following day. He drove me home, and we made plans for me to come back again that night for dinner. We were in that place where you enjoy spending so much time with someone that you forget that sometimes it can be too much. I ended up spending more time at home than I planned and was a little late to getting down to his place around 7ish. We went to dinner where we kind of had a weird conversation about our expectations to our first date prior to going on it. Of course, my expectations were low and I was pleasantly surprised. He asked me why I had such low expectations for our date, and I couldn't find the right words to explain it was because he made it very clear to me before our date that he wanted a girlfriend... And now, that's me. Hmmm. I didn't want him to think that I thought he was desperate, so I twisted something around and made it seem like I always have low expectations for dates, which is generally true. Anyway, he said he had no expectations for our date, and was happy with how it turned out. Also that after a month he evaluates the relationship to see if it's something that he can see lasting a while. At first I hesitated because I have a friend whose relationship ended this way, but then I remembered what he told me the night before so I wasn't too worried. He went on to tell me how he thinks we're a really good fit, and sees us being together for a while. I agreed.

Since he had already met my school friends, I wanted him to meet some of my best friends. I arranged for us to go have drinks with my best friend and her fiance, and if I plan to take Mr. Perfect to their wedding in a few months, he needs to get to know them. I could tell he wasn't thrilled with the idea of going out for drinks (he's not a big drinker, and he thought it was going to be a loud party scene), and we kind of had our first fight. It wasn't really a fight, but he wasn't being overly interested and I kind of picked something petty and made a big deal over it. I have the tendency to do that. I got over it fairly quickly though, but he seemed to dwell on it. Drinks with my friends turned out to be fine, and he was able to converse at length with my friend's fiance, while my friend and I talked about girl things: weddings, shoes, dresses, Mr. Perfect. I noticed though that Mr. Perfect was definitely being less affectionate with me, and we hardly talked the whole time while we were there with my friends. He wasn't being socially awkward towards them, but he was being awkward with me. When we left, he walked a good 10 feet ahead of me to the door, and I felt kind of put off by that. We didn't talk much in the car, and he was being defensive. When we got back to his place I decided to just let him be. I changed into my pjs and hung out on the couch until he decided to come over to talk to me. He eventually did, and he said that he was just feeling weird because I have so many friends and he doesn't have any groups of people he considers his friends. I understand this, but at the same time, he shouldn't take it out on me because I do. We talked about it, and things were ok. They weren't great, and compared to the night before, it was probably our worst night ever. In the morning, we went to brunch and things were ok, but far from great. I'm worried that this small event took a big toll on the relationship. I'm wondering if he's still mad at me, or upset with the way the weekend went. I know I'm feeling unsettled about it, and I don't know how to bring it up without seeming like I'm harping on it. I will give it a few days to simmer and settle, hopefully by mid-week things will be back to being perfect with Mr. P.