lidiot

Well, dawn is here and I feel a little like Dante waking on Easter morning to behold the sunrise. But, now, comes the strange transition from famine to feast. My friends and I are still dancing around each other, but the music is changing. Where we were Morris dancing for so long, we are falling quickly into the steps of the Tango. So odd, the rhythms of life and love.

And then, there is Ashley.

Ashley is the hard-drinking, trash talking, heaven on wheels that I 'screwed my courage to the sticking place' on and began flirting with a few weeks ago. Rarely have I pursued intimacy with anyone who was not a friend already, but this woman just grabbed me from the get-go and I could not resist (although I guess I 'resisted' for a bit of time, before I just couldn't take it anymore.)

When last I blathered about her to you, I had accomplished the lofty goal of actually SPEAKING to her and goofily managed to get the slyest of looks and her name, both of which, in their simplicity, had me walking on air. Last week, she returned to the Faire and I had a rose delivered to her. Among 5000 people wandering about over 8 hours, I sent the 'rose girl' out with the description: "She's gorgeous. She's in a tricked out motorized wheelchair. She's tattooed, has 3 perfect lip-piercings that you wish you could bite... Oh, and her name is Ashley." The rose also went with the message, " From the Mudboy with the massive crush."

Well, she was found (Good on yer father, Delivery Goddess!), which thrilled me, and upon grilling of the bearer, I learned that she was noticably happy about it, BUT appeared to have a boyfriend with her. Ach! So, I let things go. I decided that I blindsided her twice and if she was happy to, and could, act, then it was her move.

Of course, a long week had to pass...

Yesterday.

Standing outside the gate of the Faire, talking to people waiting in line, I was in full and fashionable 'covered-in-dirt' garb, when she rolled up. To my surprise, she came right over to me. Smiling hugely, she thanked me for the flower. I responded by bouncing a little and blushing and said, "Yes. I couldn't help it. I hope that I didn't step on anyone's toes."

"Oh... no... no," she said, still smiling. Was it 'beaming'? I don't know, I was doing a lot of that myself, so I can't be sure.

"Good. Yeah. Good. Soooo, yeah... I'm going to stand over here now, off to the side, so that you don't think I'm stalking you," say I.

And into the Faire she went. As soon as she was out of sight, I skipped inside to where some of my other performer friends were standing and I babbled to them for a moment. A minute later, she came by, saying, "You ARE stalking me. I knew it!"

"No, no," I protested, "Trust me, when I start stalking you, you'll never know it."

And, then, god bless his little heart, one of my friends said, "So, Jay, is this the woman that you haven't shut up about all week?" I could have kissed him.

"Yes." Bounce, bounce.

This time she definitely beamed and blushed and laughed and said awkwardly, "Well, I'm going to go to the ATM now." And, off she went.

Cut to 4 hours later. We were starting our final show of the day, ( Hamlet... in an 8' by 15' pit of mud. Oh, yeah, baby, high culture!) and there she was! She is a pub-hopper. She just comes to the Faire, with her season pass, and hangs out drinking and singing and generally being rowdy (So Hot!). I have NEVER seen her come to any show. And yet, there she was, just off to the side.

We do the show and it's a hat-pass show, so at the end, we stand about talking to guests and accepting tips in our baskets. Due to coincidence, my section of the audience happened to be the one she was in.

So, there I am, dripping with mud from head to toe, simultaneously feeling very sexy and very hideous. We chit-chatted for a moment and then I said (again, covered in filth, standing on a bench holding a basket of dollar bills, with probably 20 people standing in a circle around me and her!): "Look, I know it's hard to tell right now, but I DO clean up pretty well. I'm actually kind of handsome under all this." Geez, where the hell did THAT self-confidence come from?

And she said:

"Well, I guess we are just going to have to make a date to find that out for sure, won't we?"

OH MY GOD!

After a stunned moment, I sputter, "Okay" (note: This is not an apathetic 'okay', it's an "I really can't think of anything else to say because it's taking all of my strength just to keep from falling over from shock" 'okay')

"So," she continued, "I'm going to need your number"

Again: Oh My God!

"Okay... Don't, uh, don't go away." I ran backstage, grabbed a business card (easiest thing to do at the moment, tho I still dripped mud on it.) and brought it back to her. It's kind of a wacky-looking card and she took it, looked it over and asked, "This IS you, right? If I call this number, I will get YOU, right?"

"Oh, yes. If you call that number, you WILL GET ME."

"Good"

"Good"

"Okay"

"Okay"

"Good."

And that was that... for then... for now. For tomorrow? Well, we'll just have to see.

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Today's geek movie quote. In honor of romance, I have chosen one of the strangest, but in my opinion, one of the most gorgeous, love-stories. Maybe it's tough, maybe it ain't:

Male actor, United Kingdom, during a botched kidnapping:

"Look! I'm doing the best that I can, under some very difficult circumstances!"

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Thanks for listening.

xo
-j