Awkward moment in the comic book store

I've never hidden the fact that I'm a big ol' geek and more than a bit of a nerd. Just recently I've started collecting comics again, and I have a preferred comic book store that I go to on a regular basis. I've even been helping the owner get the back issue boxes all sorted and organized so it's easier for customers to find any back issues they missed for a particular run.

There I was today sorting through the various X-Men series, stacking them on top of other boxes, when in walks a couple of folks I haven't seen in ages.

These two people I've known for a lot of years, one since before I moved to the island as we use to date on-line a great many moons ago. I guess the break-up was sort of amicable in that we managed to remain friends for a few years after we broke up and I moved here, but then we very much drifted apart.

I'm over her, and have been for ages. We haven't spoken much in a few years, and I really don't miss the friendship we used to have. Honestly, it was a rather toxic friendship anyway because basically if I wasn't entertaining her in some way, or willing to drop all my responsibilities to run when she wanted to hang out or do something, she would get really pissy and guilt me into doing what she wanted. If I wanted to do something in particular, she'd always either cancel or straight up say no. It was always all about her and what she wanted to do. Even when we were dating it was the same thing.

I figured her out years ago, and I knew that as long as I refused to be her entertainment that she wouldn't have much use for me. She's lost other friends the same way over the years, and I remember her asking me once why she had a hard time keeping friends. My answer was an honest one, and she didn't like it one bit.

When her and I worked at the same call center she started surrounding herself with people that would provide her with some form of entertainment. If they were willing to do whatever it was she wanted, she was happy as shit. And I couldn't help but notice that she was hanging around with people that were not as intelligent as her, and I don't mean in terms of education either. But whatever floats her boat, I guess. I guess a good way to describe the people she decided to be friends with would be 'as stunned as me arse'...as in absolutely clueless about so many things that a person should know in order to get by in the world.

The guy she was with has been wanting to be with her for at least a dozen years, but she always swore that she had absolutely no interest in him. I've known him for about that long - he helped her, me, and my kid put up and decorate our first Christmas tree here. Every once in a while he'd pop back up in her life, and yet she'd always say that she was not interested in him.

I worked with him at the same call center I worked with her at, and I really got the impression that he was more than a bit of an idiot. He was all about being in a relationship with somebody, and nobody could tell him that bouncing from girl to girl wasn't doing him any favours because he always seemed to pick the same sort of woman. He was opinionated and stubborn, but didn't have the brains to back it up, and when he got fired over the phone (which is NOT legal) he got angry when I told him what he needed to do. He told his roomie - who has been a friend of mine for ages - that I was annoying and he didn't like me at all. Then why the fuck did he contact me about the mess in the first place? I think he only bothered being friends with me because it made him look good in her eyes.

Anyhow, even then she wanted nothing to do with him. It was to the point that when she left the call center to go work at a different call center that she was very vocal about not wanting to see him there because he made her uncomfortable.

After she started working at the new call center we pretty much lost touch with each other. I was busy with my new job, and she was busy with hers. And we no longer had the same group of friends so it wasn't like we'd have any reason to really see much of each other. Oh, I ran into her at conventions or at the Regatta, but there were no invites on either side to hang out. I gave up on that years ago after listening to all her excuses, and because I wasn't willing to be her entertainment she wasn't likely to ask anyway.

One day fairly recently I checked her FB to see how she's been...and then found out that since January of this year she's been in a relationship with the guy she'd always swore she never wanted a relationship with. Oh, I really wasn't surprised, to be entirely honest. Not even my kid was surprised - my kid worked directly with the two of them.

Anyhow, back to today. The two of them walk in, and the woman said hi to me and asked what comics I was looking for. I explained that I wasn't looking for anything but I was helping the owner of the store (I used the owner's name) organize the comics. The woman, let's call her C, was like "Oh" and left it at that. I heard her boyfriend A muttering about something, but I ignored him completely. They left very quickly after that - A doesn't like me, and I used to be known for not giving a shit about what people thought and saying what was on my mind. I guess he was afraid that I'd call him out or something. Whatever.

Apparently the energy was weird enough that the friend J I was with picked up on it. I gave a very quick explanation in the store but it wasn't the best place to tell her everything. Afterwards, J realized just who C and A were as we all worked at the same call center at one point, and J even commented that it was pretty clear then that C did not want to share me as a friend, and that if I wasn't able to jump when C wanted my attention at work that C got obviously pissed off. And J knows A well from having to deal with his bullshit at work as well. Fun day.

I'm fairly certain that C and A left the comic book store rather than hang around because I was there. Pretty childish, but whatever. Those two seem pretty well matched. But it was awkward while they were there, and I'm sure C never expected me to be on first name basis with the shop owner. At one point C and I would have had a longer conversation and sort of catch up on what's been going on in our lives, but today we didn't. And I honestly didn't want to even if she hadn't been essentially herded out of there by A.

Oh well, if that's how the two of them want to get on when I'm around, let them. I'm over it. Moreso now that I've blogged about it and worked through my feelings about the situation. I think I'm off to remove C from my FB f-list...it's not like she's been much of a friend in all the time that I've known her.