An Hour Ahead

Introduction

I sat at the dinner table, anxiously staring at my phone and waiting for the rest of the family to finish their meals. It was the 23rd of December, 2012, at precisely 7:28 PM when I received his first chat message. Wow. There it was. Just the night before, we met on what could possibly be the sketchiest site known to all teenagers of today, Omegle. My phone lit up, notifying me that I "received a Skype message from Alex." It was at that moment that my heart dropped, my fingers froze, and my eyes widened in surprise, all at once. SCORE!  I mean.. they do say that if someone starts a conversation with you first, they were thinking about you.. right? 

"Hey," messaged Alex.

I followed the "don't-reply-so-fast-or-you'll-look-eager-and-you'll-creep-him-out" rule and waited to send the message after a few minutes. "Oh hey! How are you?" I replied casually. 

"I'm alright. What's up? :)" 

Oh my.. there's a smiley at the end of his message! I felt my sister's eyes lingering on me from across the table. Unaware that I was blushing and smiling to myself, I replied, "Nothing really. I'm actually out at dinner with my family right now. I'm on my phone.. Can I talk to you after? :)" 

I received an abrupt "sure," moments after. I felt great. I felt cool. It was as if a refreshing wave of "someone actually wants to talk to you, Casey," struck my senses. Then again, what was I doing? What was I thinking? I just met the guy.. on a shady video chat website... the night before... I'm stupid to even think that there could be anything more with this guy. When I fall for someone, I fall deep and hard... and I think that maybe I could be descending down another rabbit-hole full of "I like you's" and "Will you go out with me's?" and a shit load of good times and bad times that only couples have. That's right. I was falling for the desperation of having a relationship. But how can I have a successful one through a computer screen with a guy I barely even know?

Throughout the 16 years I've lived in this life, I learned that I'm half crazy and the other half of me is just real optimistic. I'm thinking that right now, though, my optimism is skyrocketing and I'm expecting too much. I stroked my finger down the side of the glass of water that sat on the table, guiding the condensated water droplets to the bottom of the glass. I took a sip and looked up from my phone. Oh, Casey.. what have you gotten yourself into now? 

My family rose from their seats in unison, putting on their coats and scarves and hats and gloves, ready to leave the restaurant to face the brisk Chicago weather on the way to the car. I got up last, buttoned my teal peacoat, and wrapped a knitted rose pink scarf around my neck. Phone in hand and online on Skype, I proceeded out the restaurant and chatted Alex one last time before I got into the car. 

"I'll be home soon. Video call you when I get there."