Double Date, Double Struggle

I was lying on my bed working on homework on a quiet Tuesday evening when my roommate bounds through the door shouting, "GUESS WHAT WE'RE DOING?!?!"
From any normal person I might guess, "Going to the beach" or "Going out for ice cream," but alas with my roommate is was never this simple. Any time I had to guess about something, was a bad sign.
"What are we doing?"
"GOING ON A DOUBLE DATE!!" (yes, this really was all screamed."
Interiorly - I sighed.
"With who?"
"Well you remember Jared*? He keeps asking me to hangout...and well I really don't want to hangout with him by myself. So when he asked me to go out for wings tomorrow night, and I said yes, but I asked if you could come too."
"Okk....."
"Soooo he said he would bring his friend Tim* along! Remember when you met Tim? Well I guess he asked Jared about you.... anyways so Jared invited him, and we're all going!"
"We?"
"Yes, you're coming."
Interior sigh.

The struggle increases and the situation gets a little funnier when the next day, two of our other roommates decide that they will tag along for the date and sit at another table observe.

We decided to drive ourselves so that we would have a quick exit if necessary. Besides, we didn't really know our dates all that well.

We get to the restaurant and Jared and Tim hadn't arrived yet so my roommate and I got a booth and waited. While waiting, our other roommates arrived and were seated a few tables away from us with a perfect view.

We didn't wait for long before out dates arrived. After getting up to greet our dates (and introduce me), my roommate and I sat on the same side of the booth, assuming that the guys would sit across from us. This is normal date behavior right? (Somebody back me up here.) Well apparently Jared (roommate's date) didn't like this because he made a fuss about how she and him were supposed to sit next to each other. Well obviously we were not having any of this so we stayed where we were. Strike 1.

After ordering our wings, we began a casual conversation. Or so we thought. Sigh.
I asked the guys, "So how do you guys know each other?" To which they looked at one another sheepishly.
"Well we met in jail actually," Jared said. Strike 2.
He laughed and it didn't really seem to bother him. I looked at Tim and he looked just a tad uncomfortable.
I pinched my roommate's leg under the table hoping to give her the message: "I'm going to kill you."
(Where does she even find these people?)

Now to give you a picture, I am a nice girl. I wear pink and pearls, do my homework, and go to Mass every Sunday. And here I am, sitting across from an ex-convict covered in tattoos. (I'm not judging. Just get that mental picture in your head.)

Well the date progressed, they asked us about school, what we were studying, where we were from etc. The typical getting to know you questions.
Ok, and I will admit that Tim was actually pretty nice for someone who just got out of jail. (Yes, they were not in jail like 5 years ago. They were just recently - as in a few months ago - released. Strike 3.)
We got out food and began to eat.

While we were eating, for some reason Jared thought it was a good idea to bring up stories about being in jail. I have no experiences with being in jail, and neither did my roommate so we had nothing to contribute to that conversation besides feeling rather uncomfortable. Strike 4.

My charming roommate decides to change the subject with "So Tim, what does the tattoos on your knuckles say?" (Yes, he had tattoos on this fingers like the ones that say "Thug Life")
To which he responds, "Oh, it says Dough Boy.
I repeat, my roommate and I are nice girls, so of course we had know idea what this meant. We looked at each other confusedly. And Jared asked, "You don't know what that means?!" (clearly shocked)
"Um, no..."
He laughed. Sigh.
"A Dough Boy is a heroin dealer." Strike 5.
Double sigh.
Poor Tim, he didn't ask for this either. He said, "Yeah, well I used to deal before I went to jail. Now I'm getting clean though." Awesome.

Continuing on through the date, we hear more jail stories and we are all just real uncomfortable.
The checks come and they don't even pay. Strike 6. They are really struggling. And so are we.

On our way out to the cars, we encounter a fairly drunk woman who asks us for a ride because she fought with her boyfriend. WHAT IS HAPPENING ON THIS NIGHT?!
Jared tells her that we (as in me and roommate) will give her a ride and I want to punch him in the stomach.

I convince Tim to ride with us to the location of drop off because we don't really want to ride with a drunk stranger to an unknown location. We drop her off in an empty parking lot to her ride, and say our goodbyes.

Classy on the outside, struggling on the inside.
At least it makes for a good story.




*names have been changed to protect the dignity of the human person

Interior Struggle: Post 1

   One a casual Monday afternoon...everything seemed to be going great.  My hair was great.....curly...not frizzy...to top it off I had on a cute outfit.  It was the beginning of a short and stressful week.  Thanksgiving was on Thursday and I was set to go home on Tuesday.  To top it off I had plans to work on a paper with my friend crush (yes friend crush everyone....definition: someone I really want to become friends with. Key word...friend)..heh heh heh.  Anyways back to the struggle within.  On the outside I was put together and looked good (if I must say so myself)  but in the inside I was stressed and had procrastinated on a very important paper.
  To begin the series of struggling events...I must back track a couple days.  For some strange reason I had bought a bottle of Sierra Mist even though I already had a drink. So instead of giving it away I kept the drink in my backpack just in case I got thirsty.  On Monday I had to take my geography test early. I was so unprepared and hardly studied due to the fact that I was working on other important assignments.  My professor had arranged a small group of us to take the test early so we could go home early. I agreed, and showed up on Monday to take the test.  As I arrived....a little late......I decided to take a sip of the Sierra Mist I had carried around with me for a few days.  As I pulled out my Sierra Mist I knew it had been shaken up from all the tossing around my backpack had gone through.  Fully knowing the bottle of Sierra Mist was going to explode...I opened it anyways.  As I opened it, I stretched out my arms and allowed the soda to spill all over my hands and on the carpet.  Did I mention this was all happening during an exam??
     Anyways, as I allowed for the soda to spill all over the place...everyone turned around and  stared.  Once I rushed to the bathroom and cleaned up my mess, I continued on with my exam.  Everyone else around me looked to be completing the exam successfully.  As I continued on....I had a hard time...."shoot...where was this in the chapter" I thought?  Or..."ugh WHY am I in this class?"  I continued to struggle through the test and decided I wanted to re-write one of my answers.  As I erased my exam the exam went flying off my desk and right next to the person near me.  My professor looked up at me and gave me a look of..."what is wrong with you"?  Like  that hadn't been suspicious enough. In the first room I created a mess with my exploding soda...now my had gone flying off my desk and near someone else's.  (To describe it more...I had to get up from my seat and get the exam...who knew those things could fly :P  )  Overall...I looked good on the outside....but had a struggled filled day.  I actually ended up pulling an all nighter that night as well. :(