Lady Labyrinth

Natalie Gives a Second Chance

Every so often I felt the need to check Facebook messages. Just over a week after the competition I went to with Rowan, I decided to look. I had notifications for Messenger turned on, but they didn't always show up. I was not surprised to see that I was not notified for a message I received yesterday. It was from Blake Cisar, the guy I met at the competition with Rowan. They had been friends since college. Blake was basically a clone of Rowan. Both had long, blond hair and a beard, though Blake's was less thick than Rowan's. My first thought when I saw the two of them together was, "Dear God, there's two of them."

"How's it goin'? Did you go to the contest yesterday?" Blake asked over text.

I could tell right away Blake liked me, just by the way he was trying to be cool.

"Hey. Sorry for the late reply," I said without expression. "Had something else to go to that day."

"Hey indeed! I'm super exhausted. Had to take a nap in my truck earlier today. Well hey, I don't do this often, but I was wondering if you wanted to grab a coffee some time this weekend?"

Fuck. I was seeing someone else. The thing was, Blake was popular in college. He was the kind of student everybody wanted to be. He was doing really well in the field. I knew that knowing him would be good for my career. I said yes.

"I'd have to be on Sunday," I said.

"Same. Does 1:30 work?"

"Sure."

The next Sunday, I was with Blake at the coffee shop that was within walking distance of campus. He wore a shirt that had the NASA logo, but instead of NASA it said MUSK. I think this guy somehow knew I was fascinated with Elon Musk. Maybe Rowan said something.

We had good conversations. I casually mentioned the guy I was currently seeing when talking about something else. I had to make sure he knew I was not interested in him.

Two weeks later, that other guy and I decided to stop seeing each other. Let me explain.

I had known this guy since freshman year when we had a class together. The pandemic ruined any chances of us getting to know each other. Sophomore year, he was caught flirting with a lot of different girls. For nearly a year, I had forgotten this guy existed until we crossed paths again.

We got into talking. From a few conversations, I felt like we really understood each other. I also thought he was cute. He was a year older than me, but he took a gap year, which was why he was in the same year as me. I knew that staying with him in the long run would be financially disastrous. I'd be the breadwinner, since his major would make him zero money.

He used to have a car, but it was costing too much money to keep repaired, so he sold it. Since he didn't have a car, I drove us to our late night Chick-Fil-A runs. He did pay for me a few times, which was nice.

After one of the runs, he invited me into his apartment. Nothing happened, though I think both of us thought something would. However, he had a point.

"I dated this girl last summer. I really liked her, and I thought she liked me. But then she left me for another girl, and I was really sad. She apparently never liked me in the first place. I don't want to do that to you. I don't want to do things with you only to realize I don't actually like you in that way."

I appreciated that, actually. He knew I really liked him, and he was very kind with me for those few weeks we saw each other.

Shortly after I had coffee with Blake, my roommate hosted a party. I invited the guy, but he ended up not coming due to having a panic attack. I asked if he wanted me to come over so we could still see each other.