8- Christmas (Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder)

After finals, Marcos flew to Florida where his parents and two younger sisters were living at the time. He was going to be gone three weeks and I couldn't stand it. I didn't get to see him for Christmas or New Year's and I had really been hoping we could go out on New Year's Eve. Dang it! So, I've always enjoyed the holidays and love surprising people with gifts. Marcos, on the other hand, not so much. I sent a box with him in his suitcase for him to open on Christmas. Let's just say I pretty much spoiled that boy. I bought him a couple shirts from the gap, some adidas sports stuff, socks...I can't remember, but I stuffed that box full of presents. I wanted to play some Christmas songs for him and had all these girly ideas of caroling with my boyfriend over the holidays. Instead, Lisa and I made a tape of the two of us playing Christmas duets (me on the violin and her on the piano) to send for him to listen to. I also decided to send a note to his parents thanking them for raising such an awesome kid...AND I even wrote it in Spanish. I thought it would mean more. Um yeah, I REALLY liked him by this point.

He called me on Christmas Eve at 10:00 p.m. It was midnight in Florida and that is when they celebrate Christmas and open presents. They have a big Christmas Eve dinner late that night, toast the holiday at midnight and then open presents. He was telling me all about his holiday and thanking me for the presents. He was pretty surprised by everything and told me how much the letter had meant to his parents. I'm a sentimental sap - what can I say? I had big news for him too. That day I had bought my first car ever - a 1995 Nissan Altima. I was so excited. I had pretty much been living in beat-up, hand-me-down cars my whole teenage existence so I was feeling quite grown up. Marcos started joking about how shocked his family was at how much I sent him for a present and then now how I had bought a new car. He told me it was no big deal because I was rich. What a nut! Yeah, I was just about as loaded as he was at the time. We were both students with on campus jobs. Go us! Together we brought in about $700 a month (before taxes). Nice! Anyway, after his ritual teasing of the girlfriend, he got serious again. At some point he just out and said, "I love you." I about swallowed my tongue. Why was it so weird to hear? I don't know. I mumbled, "Me too." Then he tortured me with questions about why I couldn't say I love you and bothered me a little bit more until we finished talking and I went to bed. I was beaming inside, but felt bad leaving Marcos hanging like that. I had been wanting to tell him how I felt for a long time, but it wasn't my style to make such a big move over the phone.

A few weeks before, my mom's aid at school had decided to set me up with some guy she knew. I was reluctant to go, but decided it wouldn't be a big deal. I needed a date for New Year's Eve anyway and didn't want to sit at home feeling sorry for myself. Plus, if I was going to chicken out of really being in love, now was the chance. I had to make sure I was really falling for this guy and not just falling in love with some romantic fantasy. Luck is never on my side. Marcos sent me this big balloon bouquet and flowers about an hour before my date arrived. The card talked about how much he missed me and loved me. Great, now I'm going to have him on the brain all night. And sure enough, I did. My poor date. I was not present that night at all. Not a good date. But he didn't get that vibe at all. He called me a few times afterward to ask me out again. I finally had to tell him I was dating somebody seriously and wasn't interested. So much for playing the field. I was a goner!