Finding company

It has been a very very very long time since I have ventured out into the world. Don't get me wrong. I have been outside of my home. I have gone out to the movies by myself, hung out with my childhood girl friends at the mall, and socialized with local dog enthusiasts. BUT, I have steered clear, far left and around, from the dating scene. It has been my choice to purposely avoid finding company with a person that may lead towards a romantic interlude.

I chose this path for a variety of reasons: to avoid getting hurt, to avoid the embarrassment of rejection, to keep what little shred of self-esteem I still had intact after a horrible break up, and the list of reasons (or excuses as my girlfriends call it) can go on and on.

However, there has only been one reason for why I broke free from this path... I met a guy. I was not looking for him, I did not find him on an online dating site, or while out at a bar with my friends. I found him (or he found me) while I was doing what I do best, avoiding the dating scene by going to the movies.

I love watching movies and don't mind going to the movies by myself. I decided to attend a marathon event at my local theater and offered to be the one person in my group who would wait in line for good seats. I arrived to the theater, fiddled with the automated machine and retrieved my tickets, propped open my folding chair in the movie line, and sat patiently for the theater doors to open. I normally do not pay attention to others in line but for some reason I noticed the guy sitting in front of me. He was sitting against the wall reading a book. I could not tell you the name of the book or what the guy looked like. Even to this day, I cannot remember what he was wearing. But one things stood out... he was THAT guy in line who was reading a book while waiting to see the same movie I was there to see.

A few minutes passed and the line began moving into the theater earlier than I expected. I followed the guy reading the book, and everyone else, into the the theater to collect our 3D glasses and find our seats. As I grabbed my glasses, I quickly walked to the theater while shoving my folding chair into its bag. I got into the theater and the entire room was pitch black. I was hitting people left and right with my fold up chair which was sliding off my shoulder due to the fact that my turtle hump of a backpack was packed to the seams with candy, snacks, and movie related items for 10 people.

My goal was to save seats in the front row of the middle section. I needed four seats and I began following the dim cell phone lights traveling down the front row. I quickly passed all of the lights and found one empty seat at the end of the row. Then I proceeded to do something I usually do not do, I announced myself to the darkness asking if there were any seats left in the first row. I did not get a response. I set my chair down in the first seat and sat in the second seat. I then leaned over to the third seat and announced myself again to the darkness. No response. I took off my backpack and set it in the second seat and moved to the third. By this time I thought no one was in the fourth seat but I still wanted to asked just in case the people in the middle of the row were saving seats. I leaned over while announcing myself to the darkness. I immediately heard a voice respond, "Don't you have a light on your phone?" I immediately felt an arm on the armrest too. I jumped a bit because I did not know who this person was or if I screamed my inquiry into their face or ear.

I replied to the darkness: I had my hands full with my folding chair and was not able to pull out my phone in time to find seats.
Darkness: How many seats do you need?
I need one more to make four.
I can move over. 
Thanks!

I then moved into the fourth seat and began quickly searching for my phone in my backpack. I pulled out my phone and powered it on. Just as my phone turned on the theater lights flickered and lit up the entire room.

I turned to my right to see who was talking to me in the darkness... it was THAT guy in line who was reading the book.

Being in close quarters with other movie lovers leads to sharing of movie snacks and conversing about future movie events. One thing let to another and I was chopping it up with a couple seated directly behind me and the guy reading the book. We all quickly became friends and talked about meeting up in two weeks for another film. I thought it would be cool to see all of them again, even the guy reading the book.

Skip ahead two weeks and we all met up at the movies again. We sat around and played a board game while in line. We all sat together in the theater too. And guess who sat right next to me again... the guy reading the book.  I admit I wanted him to sit next to me but I never divulged that information to him.

So while I was avoiding finding company, I actually found a person to keep me company. The guy reading the book and I have been on a few dates since our two encounters at the theater. So far, so good. Lets just hope our meaning of "keeping company" is the same.