Our Story, Part II

(Go here for Part I.)

That Friday was September 25, 1992. The very first memory I have of Dan is that I was standing on the lawn of the fraternity house (an old cattle plantation house) in the dark during a party. I was there with sorority sisters, talking to the Phi Psi brothers, and remember being introduced to this guy named Dan. I thought he was pretty cute, and kind of talked to him for a bit, jockeying for a spot next to him. After talking for a few minutes, he said he needed to go inside to get a drink.

And THIS is where the story veers off the path for a moment, because Dan HATES it when I tell the story in chronological order. He hates that I leave a very important detail until the end, so for posterity’s sake (and to appease my sweet husband), for once I’ll give the “punch line” now. Then you’ll see how it fits in later.

The important detail is that, unbeknownst to me, Dan had a girlfriend at the time. Dinah was her name. Nice girl. I ended up getting to know her later, and she married one of Dan’s frat brothers too. But that’s neither here nor there.

So here I am, on the front lawn of a frat house, trying to talk to this very cute guy. He says he needs to go inside, and I (being the forward person I am) suggest that I go with him. He kind of hemmed and hawed for a moment, but I went with him anyway. Of course I didn’t go by myself! I took my pledge sister Julie with me. We went upstairs and Dan led us out onto the roof so we could overlook the party. We sat down, and I was in the middle between Dan and Julie. After talking for a bit, I (being the forward person I am) reached down and held Dan’s hand. That went on for a little bit longer, then he said he needed to go inside to get another drink. Julie and I decided to wait outside for him. But after a while, we realized he wasn’t coming back. I could see through the house windows that he was talking to some other people who had brought the party inside. I dragged Julie inside too, and sidled on up to Dan as if I owned him. He was talking to some other girl, and I needed to “stake my claim.” So I tried to get in on their conversation (being the forward person that I am), but realized he wasn’t really responding to me. After a while, I pulled Dan aside and said, “Hey, do you want me to just leave you alone?” He kind of shrugged, so I realized I had been dissed and I told Julie it was time for us to leave. And that was that.

Here’s where the important detail comes in. That girl he was talking to? Yep. That was Dinah. Wow. (Of course, I didn’t know that until a LONG time later.)

Check back later for Part III.