My Love Story ~ Part Five

The college term was off to a good start that fall of 1996. I was taking only part time classes. I had a full time job as a receptionist for a large car dealership in my hometown. I enjoyed it so very much! I loved working on the phone, talking all day! I looked forward to college, which at that time held evening classes, so that I could see him. He was my boyfriend. He wasn't really good looking, but hey, I had a mirror. What could I expect? In reality, I merely wanted a good reason for staying home.
Things were not getting any more serious in our relationship, the way I had hoped. I did most of the talking, I did most of the suggesting, I made most of the plans...it all felt so very strange. We did however, date a little more that fall than we had the summer before. This was because we took full advantage of all of the college kids that were there (all six of them) and bribed them with a free meal to be our chaperons. My boyfriend's good friend, much to my chagrin, was Bumper. To say that I loathed him would be putting it mildly.Bumper taunted me at every turn. He told me I was a "universal traveler" (his favorite term for a wacko) more times than I care to count. He mocked me, intentionally made stinging comments to me and, the worst of all, showed up at our Saturday bus meeting wearing a sleeveless flannel shirt!!! That's right, he had cut the sleeves out of it!! At that moment, he ceased to be even slightly attractive to me. Needless to say, I was less than thrilled to consider Bumper as a chaperon! Conversations about date plans went something like this:
Mike: "You wanna go out Friday night?" (He still did the asking, but we sort of had a standing date every Friday night.)
Me: "Sure, but I don't know about a chaperon." (Since it was up to me.)
Mike: "I bet I could get Bumper to go."
Me: "Bumper? Why Bumper? Isn't there anyone else in your dorm?"
Mike "Yeah, but I know Bumper'll go."
Me: "Okay. Whatever." I'd sigh and walk away thinking "Just great" under my breath.
When Mike picked me up, there was Bumper slumping in the back seat. While we (I) tried to decide where to eat, he would lean up between the seats and say "Can you guys please make a decision?? Good night! Let's eat ribs! Who cares! Food is food!" I would then reply "You know, you're not even here. You just get to do what we do, so do you mind keeping quiet? THANK YOU!" Mike never said a word.
When we got to the restaurant, Mike sat beside me, and Bumper was across from me. Bumper didn't mind talking at all. He made fun of me, laughed at me, and called me names. Then, he began telling me what he thought about a lady who worked in our college, whom he did not like. In fact, he thought she was horrible. He said so. This guy, who had only been in my church for two months, was giving an opinion of someone he barely knew- and a cruel opinion, at that. It was all I could take. I stood up at the table facing him dead on. (I wished he could read my mind now!!)
"How dare you talk about a staff member at my church that way! You hardly know her! Who do you think you are, anyway?" At this point, a few people were staring at me, though I wasn't yelling. Mike sat there, doing nothing, but probably wishing he had run very far away from me when we first met. Bumper just slouched down in his seat chewing on a toothpick and grinning. He enjoyed seeing me get angry! I realized I was making a scene, so I sat down. My face felt red and hot. On this happy note, we left the restaurant. I vowed in my heart not to speak to him again that night, and I'm proud to say that I kept that vow. I went home, still flustered. I probably prayed that night that God would move him to another school...any other school.
Later, I asked Mike an important question that revealed a great deal about his feelings for me.
"Mike, why didn't you stand up for me when Bumper was criticizing me and our church?"
"I just felt like you both should work it out."
"What? Why would I want to work things out with him, Mike? I don't care if I ever see him again in my life!"

Bumper was our chaperon on another memorable date, only this one was at my home. We went out to eat, with no major outbursts from me, and then headed to my house to watch a movie with my parents. During a commercial, Bumper and my Dad started talking. Next thing I know, Dad is going to get his rifles to show Bumper, who happens to be a licensed gunsmith. I wished Dad would point one at him! But, Dad wasn't getting angry, in fact, they sat there laughing and talking about guns. I wished Dad would hand me one of them! They sat on the hearth in the den across from me and Mike. It was all so weird; so backwards! What was Bumper trying to do, anyway? I looked at Mike and rolled my eyes.
"What is he doing now? I can't stand him!" I whispered to Mike.
"Well, you don't have to worry about him bothering you much anymore." Mike said.
"Why? Did you say something to him for me?" I asked, smiling and hopeful that Mike had finally come around.
"No. He just got a girlfriend."

To be continued...