Brother-In-Law

My friend got married this past winter. Since I was living in her hometown at the time, I was able to attend the reception she had there. There I met her new brother-in-law, whom I will call "Bill" (for Brother-In-Law, aren't I clever?).

Here is a snippet our first conversation:

Bill: Hey, is your husband sitting here?
Me: (wiggling the naked fingers of my left hand at him) Nope, single.
Bill: Oh, you walked in with a guy and I thought maybe he was your husband.
My thoughts: I walked in about 5 feet behind another girl...but that was a clever way to find out my status.


We had a very nice conversation, complete with my friend pulling me aside to point out knowingly that we seemed to be getting along well.* We danced for a little while that evening, during which he was incredibly charming. Right before I left, he asked me for my number, stating that even though he would be leaving to go back to his home on the other side of the country in a few days, he didn't want to miss out on a chance with me.

We texted quite a bit after that and decided to go together to my friend's farewell party the next evening. It was a lovely evening and we got to know quite a bit about each other. When I went to drop him off at the hotel, we began a short conversation about what would happen when he went home. It was a DTR of sorts. Realizing that the conversation would take longer than I had gas in my car, we parked the car and went into the hotel lobby to continue our discussion. We eventually determined that we would talk and write each other letters and see how things went. The evening was going so well that we continued talking for even a few hours after that, and even after he walked me out to the car, he kept me engrossed in conversation.

He went home, and we continued texting and talking on the phone for hours at a time. Things seemed to be going really well until we had one particular conversation that went something like this:

Me: Until about a week and a half ago, I was dating this one guy. It's completely over, though. I just thought you should know because I still have some feelings for him.
Bill: Well, you should probably know that this weekend I'm going to Maryland to visit a girl for New Year's weekend. That was all before I met you, though.
Me: Okay, that's fine. I'm not your girlfriend, and you're allowed to visit whomever you want.

At this point I got a text from my newlywed friend containing some vital information. The conversation took a different turn:

Me: Wait, you've been dating this girl for quite awhile now?
Bill: ...Yes.
Me: Are you guys serious?
Bill: Well, yes, but we have the kind of relationship where if we find something better, we can explore it.
Me: Wait, so she's your girlfriend?
Bill: Yes, but like I said, we're allowed--
Me: Were you planning on telling her this weekend about me? That you kissed a girl while you were gone?
Bill: No, our relationship really isn't like that--
Me: Were you ever going to tell me about her??
Bill: I just did!

Needless to say, things between Bill and I did not work out. I hear, though, that things are going well between him and the aforementioned girlfriend and things might even be heading toward marriage. Glad I got out of that one while I still could!



*She had done this once already that night after I conversation I'd had with another one of her male relatives. I think she's determined to become related to me somehow!