By the end of the Summer I had decided it was time to move on from Firehouse Subs and part-time preschool. I got a job working as a nanny out of Blacksburg, a full hour away from Darrin’s house and even further from my parents. This turned out to be the best thing I could have done for my fledgling relationship. Being an hour away meant I couldn’t obsessively stalk him while he was out and about during the workday. It meant our phone chats were limited to the evening hours. It meant that Darrin could have his weeknight six pack without the possibility of an enthusiastic Puerto Rican crashing his pity party. It also put a huge damper on me continuing to see other boys on the side.
Instead we took turns driving the hour to see each other on the weekends. After three months of Dating I stood in Darrin’s kitchen one sunny afternoon, and with his arms around my waist he murmured into my hair “Somehow I seem to have ended up with a girlfriend.” I spun around quickly to look into his eyes, “Really?” I squeaked. And he chuckled, “Don’t you think so?” I grinned, “Well certainly I think so. I’m just glad you do too.”
So, we were officially a couple, but we still had little desire for a long term relationship. When his children came to stay with him I made myself scarce. I had no desire to meet them and that suited Darrin just fine. One lazy afternoon we planned out when we would break up. It couldn’t be over the holidays for obvious reasons… And in January we wanted to go skiing together so that wouldn’t work. February was Valentines, so that would be shitty. March was an opportunity to go Camping… May was my birthday month, and April was his, and so on and so forth. I can’t recall what conclusion we came to, only that we came to one and it was settled. We’d break up at the appointed time, and in between we would just have fun.
Thanksgiving was approaching and I wondered about asking my newly minted boyfriend with extreme commitment issues to spend a major holiday with my family. It seemed like a bad idea. At the same time I couldn’t leave a single soldier without a place to go on the holiday. Then I got an idea that would end up having a profound and lasting effect on our future relationship, although we had no idea how much at the time. I called him up on my lunch break. “Hey, I just realized you have a four days off coming up. And I have a four days off coming up.” I continued, pausing only to take a breath, “Wanna see how far we can get in four days?” He was silent a moment and then, “What do you mean?” I grinned, hearing the excitement creep into his voice, “We could get in the car and just drive. Maybe on the parkway?” He wanted to know “What about Thanksgiving?” I shrugged, “It was never really a big deal in my family… and honestly I don’t think you could handle it at this stage in our relationship.” He laughed out loud, “You’re right about that.”
So we drove. We pointed the car south with no plan or destination. We made it all the way to the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee before turning around and heading back home, back to reality. After that trip we were not ever quite the same. We had tasted adventure and realized it was a longing we both shared. After that trip it seemed like anything was possible.
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