{how it all went down}

1 year ago
Carlos called me, said, let's go to dinner, come by my office & we'll leave when I finish up.
I, not knowing where his office was and without telling him where I was, told him, if your office is within a 10 minute radius of where I am right now, I'll come.
Turns out he was just around the corner.
Sitting there in his office was his friend/employee, B.
The three of us sat there for about 45 minutes, talking while C finished up some paperwork before heading out.
I couldn't quite understand why B ended up coming with us, but I didn't mind too much.
We ordered too many drinks & too little food. And it went downhill from there.
At some point, B had told me to call him sometime, I laughed inside & thought, yeah, whatever.
I went out with Carlos again a few days later. It was clear that the potential for what I was looking for wasn't there and I think he felt the same way and we didn't see each other again.



3 months ago
Carlos & I had been seeing each other on & off for almost 2 months at that point, after he found me online & sent a quick 'How's it going?' email.
Again, the potential wasn't really there and we both knew it, but for the time being, he was fun to hang out with.
Our outings were dwindling, with us again about to run our course.
We made plans to meet up Friday night. He called & said 'My buddy B is with me.' I'm really not sure if he thought I didn't remember B or what. I did, of course.
I remember pulling into the parking lot & thinking... This is so stupid, what in the world are you doing here?
B greeted me with a hug, tighter than I've ever felt before, and started talking to me like no time has passed since we'd seen each other last.
Before I left for home, B said to me 'You never called me', I told him I didn't have his number. When he tried to give it to me, I instead gave him mine. Told him it was up to him to call me.
And he did.
We spent the following evening together, watching about 4 movies on DVD.

Now
Not a day goes by that we don't talk. Even if it's just a late night call from a super tired guy who worked a double & is about to fall asleep, but wanted to say good night.
If more than a couple days go by without seeing each other, we get antsy.
We make out in the movie theater like teenagers... and I've learned the rule that you can't leave until you've seen at least 2 movies.
We spend hours in bed on the weekend with marathon TV watching sessions.
We sit up all night playing Blackjack with his nephew & his girlfriend. After spending so much time together, her & I have formed an alliance. We know our place in that apartment that they try so hard to make a bachelor pad and we stick together when the "I AM MAN" roars get out of control. Sometimes I even sense a sound of relief in her 'hello!' when I walk through the door. A relief of her not having to be the only girl there.
We have inside jokes. Things like 'It wasn't me!', 'I want a big piece of bread with something in it' and 'I'm not from here'. We can make each other crack up simply by the other saying 'MOFONGO".
He knows my secrets and I know his.
We kiss upon sight, another "rule" of his. A kiss upon meeting is the most important action, according to him at least.
I sleep better when I'm with him. I don't know if it's his bed, his pillows or his arms that I seem to fit into perfectly.

There's so much more really.
I still don't know 100% what it is that we're doing. But I know that I'm happy with I'm with him. I know that I would give up other activities to spend time with him and that he does the same for me.
I know that we've done a 180 in the past year and there's no telling where we'll be in another year.