May 10th, 2008 by Kateastrophe

**Updated to add: I am hosting! Woohoo!

Leave your link if you’re playing!

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Well hello! It’s been a while since I played along and I’m very sorry about that. BUT, I’m back! Yipee!

I’m not sure who is hosting this week (it might even be me, if I can get my stupid blog to stupid work my stupid Mr. Linky) but I have a ten hour rehearsal today, so I’m writing this very early so I can get it published and fulfill my obligations to all of you holding your breath for the rest of this horrifically long story!

Not sure what the heck Soap Opera Sunday is? You can find all the exciting rules here. Brillig, my real life BFF and co-host and I would LOVE to have you play along. It’s our opinion that EVERYONE’S life has a little bit of soap opera in it, and we LOVE reading the stories! We even created an anonymous soapy blog for those of you who have stories you want to publish but maybe not where they can be easily read by your husband, child, girlfriend, cat, etc. We also welcome you to link old posts that you think fit the soapy bill! Anything goes, really! If you think it’s soapy, chances are we will as well!

If you’ve already written your SOS story and can’t find who is hosting (like me!) go ahead and leave me a comment and when I get things sorted out tonight after practice, I’ll make sure you get linked up!

The last time I wrote about the Richard saga, we left off in sort of an ambiguous place in my relationship. I was in love with Richard, he was a jerk (oh wait. That was like the whole time. Ha!). It’s somewhere in the middle of our relationship. This week, I thought I’d share some of the horrible first/second dates that occured during the Richard era and caused me to think he wasn’t so bad after all . . .

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Everyone in my life was trying to set me up with someone. They all hated Richard and they all wanted me to move on already. Heck, half the time I hated Richard and wanted to move on to. I’d go on just about any date anyone set me up on in an attempt to fall in love with someone else. Enter Dominic.

My aunt was having an awning built in her backyard and one of the members of the small crew building it was a cute younger guy named Dominic. She spent some time talking to him about himself and then introduced the subject of me. She asked him if he’d want to take me out on a date and he said he’d love to. At that point I got the phone call.

“Katie, it’s Jen. A guy named Dominic is going to call you today or tomorrow. I am setting you guys up. You have to say yes! He’s cute and quiet and buff. You’ll love him.”

“Um, ok. Whatever” Feel the excitement oozing from my voice. She had set me up once before with a guy who was actually really great, it just hadn’t worked out in the end, so I trusted her judgement. I just knew I’d spend the night comparing him to the amazing version of Richard that occupied my mind.

He did call the next day, and he seemed very nice. He was sweet and polite. We set up our date for that Friday. He showed up at my door with flowers (awww) and was, in fact, very cute. I believe he was half Colombian (if memory serves correctly) and he was very exotic looking, nicely dressed, and had a GREAT body. I started to get a little bit excited about our date.

I don’t remember what we did, honestly. I remember him being very soft spoken, and that the conversation wasn’t THAT exciting, but he was nice enough. We ended up back at my house watching a movie. There was a little bit of hand holding, but nothing big, and he lightly kissed me on the cheek when he left and told me he’d call me later.

The next day, Richard had a big soccer tournament up in Salt Lake that I had promised I’d attend. I spent most of the day up there, hanging out with the other soccer players’ girlfriends (at least according to THEM I was Richard’s girlfriend. And I deserved to be! I was at every single friggin’ game!) and then afterward we went to dinner. It was one of the better days I’d had with Richard in a while, so I left his house happy.

When I got to my car, I looked down at my phone and I’d missed SEVEN CALLS from Dominic. He’d left me all sorts of weird “call me now” messages. Um, no thanks, weirdo.

Sunday, the unending phone calls continued. I finally answered from my car, late in the afternoon.

“Kate, thank goodness. I need you. I checked into a hotel room in Orem and you need to come here now. I am drunk, I’ve got a gun and I’m planning on killing myself.”

Uhhhhhh.

I really wasn’t sure how to answer. I’d never dealt with a suicidal person before, and I wasn’t even sure I believed him. It felt more like a cry for attention. PLUS, we’d had ONE DATE. I hardly knew the guy and now, I, one date Kate, was supposed to come to his rescue?

I tried talking to him for a while about why he was there and what he was doing . . . why he felt like he had to end his life. I really wasn’t sure WHAT I should do. Should I call the police? Should I call the hotel front desk? I told him I was considering these options and he totally freaked out and started yelling at me.

At this point I got mad. I didn’t believe him at all. I truly thought he was doing this for the attention and to make me feel bad for him. So I started yelling back. I told him how stupid he was being and that I wasn’t going to do anything for him. I hardly knew him, so why should I? A yelling match ensued, and I remember at one point I just screamed “FINE THEN. KILL YOURSELF. I DON’T CARE.”

A very mature, responsible thing to do, no?

He fired back with “You just told a suicidal man to go ahead and end his life. How are you going to feel if I really do it?”

At that point, I knew for sure he wasn’t planning on doing anything. He was just trying to manipulate me. I told him I wanted nothing to do with him ever again and hung up on him.

An hour later he called me back.

“I’m calm now.” he said. “I am not going to do anything. Will you come pick me up though?”

Um, hell no I won’t. “Call someone else Dominic. I don’t know you at all. It’s not a good idea for me to come get you.”

Another yelling match ensued. He wanted me to come to his hotel and talk to him. Just to talk. When that didn’t work, he used the suicide card again. Then the drunk card, saying he was going to go driving drunk and then I’d be responsible for his death AND whoever he ran into.

At this point, I’d had it. I told him I never wanted to speak to him ever again and that I wouldn’t pick up if he called me and I hung up.

So he tried another route. Later that night, he had a friend who’s name was Chris call me. Just to tell me he was OK. Chris and I started talking about how stupid he was being and Dominic’s plan backfired, especially when Chris asked me out on a date.

Thus ended Dominic . . . and begun my NEXT worst date and Reason #2. . . Chris.

Anyone besides me starting to see why Richard maybe didn’t seem SO awful at the time??

(Dominic was fine, by the way. We never talked again, but Chris let me know that everything would be fine. Apparently he’d tried this crap before with another girl. Classy. Thanks, Aunt Jen.)