Incidents from the Life of the Charmer: Worst Wingman Ever Pt. 2

8/18/2014 The Charmer 2 Comments

Last time I left you, I'd introduced my friend Jared, aka recently hired wingman. Most of the girls that had been ogling over Rex had left by this point, and so Jared and I sauntered over, with me beginning to wonder if this really was the best approach I could have thought of.

Here's kind of how how the conversation went.

ME: Hey, how's work been going?
REX: It's been pretty busy, but it hasn't been too bad.
JARED: What's your work schedule like? Do you work in the evenings?
REX: I usually just work during the day, but I've been helping my sister refinish her basement in the evening.
JARED: Oh, cool. Well maybe instead of working on the basement, you should spend your evening taking the Charmer on a date.
ME:
[aka speechless/horrified]
REX: [speechless/uncomfortable]
JARED: Just look at her. She'd love it if you took her on a date. You'd love it, too.
ME: [sending a death glare at Jared] Umm....OKAAAAY, Jared....<to Rex> Sorry, he always does this...
REX: ....Okay....ummm....
JARED: [thinks for a second, and then blurts out] SHE LOVES YOU!
ME: [punching Jared in the face...in my mind] Alriiiiight. <to Rex> You can just ignore him.


After that, we exchanged an awkward goodbye before Rex left, presumably leaving my life forever.

ME: <to Jared> You're officially fired as my wingman. Pretty sure he's never going to talk to me again.
JARED: Oh, he'll talk to you again. He's totally into you. I was just getting all of the awkwardness out of the way.
<END OF CONVERSATION>

In the end, I just sighed, shook my head, and shrugged it off. Whatever. I learned to embrace awkwardness as a missionary. Besides, even if Rex never DID speak to me again, I'd survive. After all, I was leaving in a week and a half for EFY anyways.

But....still. I liked the kid. So I decided to go to PLAN B.

PLAN B: Pray.
Hey, I'd been a missionary. When plans fell through, we prayed. We prayed A LOT. And so I may or may not have prayed for the opportunity to go on a date with Rex. Actually, I even prayed just to have the chance to have a real one-on-one conversation with him. After all, God tends to answer my prayers. Sooo I figured...why not?

PLAN C: Last Chance--Get Him at Institute!
Luckily, Rex DID actually speak to me again like Jared had predicted. I was truly shocked, seeing the direction our last conversation had gone.
In fact, he didn't just speak to me in passing...Rex and I ended up having a nice 30-minute conversation all of our own after institute the following week. My prayer was answered. YES!!! It was just as wonderful as I had imagined except that it was BETTER. We had a lot in common. He wants to travel. He loves missionaries. He's a musician. He knew a lot about psychology. We talked about all kinds of things, spanning topics from avoiding distractions and keeping the Spirit with us to playing piano to future life plans. It was fabulous. We both lamented the fact that I was leaving so soon. I told him I wished I would have gotten to know him sooner.
And that was that.
Eventually his ride showed up and he left, but not before making it clear that he was interested. Unfortunately I left 3 days later and so, unsurprisingly, nothing happened between us.

But I left that conversation grinning like a lunatic. Even if nothing else ever happens with Rex Burg, for 30 minutes on May 21, 2014 I was the happiest girl in that institute classroom. And I think that's important. Sometimes we forget to just rejoice in those little happy moments because we're too focused on trying to figure out how everything is supposed to fit together or we're worrying too much about what's going to happen next. But remember that scripture we had to memorize in high school..."Men are that they might have joy" [2 Nephi 2:25]? God created us to be HAPPY and I believe He gives us opportunities all the time, even if it's something as insignificant as a 2-for-1 coupon or a 30-minute conversation with a crush.

And of course, as I left the classroom, my friend Jared gave me one of those told you so! looks. As much as I thought he sucked as a wingman, maybe he was onto something with the whole "get the awkwardness out of the way" thing. Who knows....

xoxo,
the charmer