The Weary Traveler

Oh yeah, he wants me bad.

This story is from Kendall, a 23-year-old assistant fashion buyer in NYC, as told to Raz.

I’d hooked up with Aaron in college, but since then we’d gone our separate ways: I live in NYC, and he’s in Boston. But a couple weeks ago, he reached out and we had a decently long text conversation. I told him I’d recently been to Boston but was trying to plan my next trip. He said, “Next time you come you should stay with me.”

“Well that’s forward,” I said.

“I know,” he replied.

Turns out, I didn’t have any plans for the next weekend and the prospect of seeing Aaron again excited me. “Ok how about next weekend?” I asked.

“Sounds great.”

“You’re sure that’s OK?” I asked.

“Yup.”

I had to work Friday, so I bought a Megabus ticket to come to Boston Saturday morning and leave later that night. Come in, hook up, and come home. It sounded perfect.

When I texted him my plans, he said I should just come late on Friday so we’d have a night together. Switching my ticket cost another $30, but I was pumped that he actually wanted me to spend the night.

On Friday, I couldn’t get out of work as early as I would’ve liked, and as soon as my cab hit traffic, I knew I wasn’t going to make it to the bus in time. I searched for the next Megabus on the schedule and saw that it didn’t leave until 4 hours later. Not willing to roll into Boston at 4 am, I told the cab to let me off at Port Authority and purchased a whole new $40 ticket on a Greyhound bus. Finally on my way, I prayed the sex would be good enough to justify the extra $70 I’d spent to get there.

When I was about an hour away, I texted Aaron to tell him that.

“Great,” he said. “Where are you staying?”

Was it not obvious that I was staying with him? I was beyond confused. I read back over our text conversations to make sure I wasn’t missing something, and I wasn’t. All signs pointed to the fact that he was just a jerk who had suddenly changed his mind.

Well, this was awkward. Every part of me wanted to yell, “Stop the bus!” and run back to NYC. To add insult to injury, my phone died. And I was pretty sure Aaron wouldn’t be waiting to pick me up at the bus station.

Thankfully I had my iPad and Facebook messaged my friend Chloe who lived in Boston—I frantically asked if I could stay with her. Thank God she was in the city and is the most amazing friend ever.

By the time I got to Boston, I had absolutely no interest in seeing Aaron. Mostly, I was embarrassed—I’d spent a whole lot of time and money to go stay with a guy who apparently wasn’t even aware that that was the plan. I felt completely rejected.

Chloe and I went out to a mutual friend’s party to take my mind off of it, and she assured me that Aaron wouldn’t be there. Of course, he was.

Near the end of the night, I sucked it up and chatted with him a little. He was flirting like crazy, and asked me to come home with him multiple times. I made a point of repeatedly turning him down.

Who’s embarrassed and rejected now?