maria

Here's an interesting twist: Maria--about whose unrequited love for her I posted here--ended up having a brief romance over the past summer with yours truly. Of course, this came to pass long after I'd lost all interest in a relationship with her. Why am I not surprised?

In any event, we had a purportedly no-strings attached liaison which got complicated. How so? Well, for starters Maria is in the midst of divorcing her loser stalker husband--they've been separated for a bout a year now--who is certifiably insane, btw. (Which meant keeping our hookups on the DL.) AND, despite my being perfectly clear about the nature of our relationship (the much-maligned "friends with benefits") she clearly had strong feelings for me which she managed to conceal not too well. (Maria denied having them throughout our fling only to fully own up to 'em when it ended. How predictable.) Then, there was the VERY heavy drinking on her part, which made it a major hassle to be with her when she wasn't sober; her rather selfish displays of annoyance on the very few times (twice) in which I said no or had a time limit to seeing each other due to prior commitments; and a pregnancy scare which turned ugly, despite our initial and mutual agreement as to how we'd proceed if she was in fact pregnant.

The latter prompted me to end our dalliance. But she begged me to reconsider--and your boy being weak when it comes to a satisfying and regularly-scheduled lay--I acquiesced. Only to have her end things unilaterally a few weeks later. I guess she had to have the last word, huh? So I was surprised and hopeful for some more carnal fun when a short time later she adamantly insisted on invting herself over to my apartment for dinner. I cooked a nice meal, plied her with drinks and...had blue balls for dessert. Good grief! (At least she did the dishes.)

Since then, I've bumped into Maria in the 'hood every so often but not with much frequency, thankfully. And despite my politeness towards her on those occasions, I am none too thrilled when that happens. Especially when I was dateless this past New Year's Eve and she came into my fave bar where I wasn't expecting see her. Ugh. We exchanged pleasantries and a bit of small talk but needless to say, nothing happened between us. Maybe that was a good sign for the new year. After all, as the song says, "recycled hearts are a fruitless farce", right?