With Joe #1 officially out of the picture, there was only one Joe left.
Joe #2 and I continued seeing each other, and overall things were going well.
One Thursday night, we met up at a local bar to watch part of the Thursday Night Football game. Although he lived about forty-five minutes away, he always came to my area. He used to live nearby and said he didn’t mind making the drive. In fact, he seemed to enjoy revisiting some of his old favorite spots.
After the game, we went back to my apartment to watch the rest of it. I made ice cream in my Ninja Creami—my signature move at this point—and we sat around talking.
One thing led to another. It wasn’t bad. If I’m ranking things honestly, I’d give it about a 7 out of 10. Better than Chris, but not quite as good as Jack.
Afterward, he left around ten o’clock and I headed to bed.
Overall, it had been a good date.
But I still wasn’t entirely sure how I felt about where this was all going.
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The following week, we had plans to see each other again, and I had every intention of talking to him about a few things that had been on my mind.
Over the previous couple of weeks, Joe had mentioned more than once that he wasn’t talking to anyone else and had deleted the dating apps.
I understood what he was trying to do. He was attempting to reassure me.
The problem was that I had only known him for about three weeks.
Then he brought up apartment hunting.
He was planning to move after returning from a business trip and was telling me about the areas he was considering.
When he mentioned where he was looking, he casually asked how I would feel if he moved closer to me to “cut down the commute.”
I was speechless.
Not because I thought he was actually moving for me, but because I couldn’t believe he was asking me to weigh in on that decision after knowing me for less than a month.
I immediately told him that I didn’t want to factor into where he chose to live.
He quickly backtracked and clarified that wasn’t what he meant.
Maybe it wasn’t.
But the damage was already done.
I understood that he was probably excited about the possibility of a future relationship. I just felt like we were operating on completely different timelines.
The Friday we were supposed to hang out, I got a text from Joe around eleven in the morning.
“Don’t freak out, but I’m at urgent care and I’m not sick.”
This is probably going to sound terrible, but no, I can’t honestly say that made me freak out.
A little while later, he called me. Twice.
The problem was that I was in the middle of a very important work meeting.
I was working from home, but I still needed to focus on my job, and I couldn’t imagine what could possibly be so urgent that it couldn’t wait an hour.
When my meeting ended, I saw a text saying he was heading to the hospital and asking me to call him.
Apparently, he had noticed blood in his stool, and urgent care had sent him to the emergency room for additional testing.
I told him I hoped everything was okay and that we’d figure out plans for another time once he knew more.
I genuinely hoped he was fine.
At the same time, I couldn’t help but think the level of communication felt excessive for someone I had known for only three weeks.
Later that evening, I was out picking up dinner for my sister, my niece, and myself. I was on the phone with my mom when Joe called again.
By that point, he had already texted me to say he was okay and heading home, so I declined the call and continued my conversation.
Two minutes later, he called again.
I sighed, hung up with my mom, and called him back.
He was still in the car with his mother, who I could hear talking to someone in the background.
Joe explained that the scan they had performed wasn’t accurate and that everything appeared to be fine.
I told him I was glad he was okay.
But as I hung up the phone, I couldn’t shake how strange the whole thing felt.
I had known this man for three weeks.
Three weeks.
And yet somehow, I felt like I was being asked to play the role of girlfriend before we’d even figured out whether we liked each other enough to be a couple.
For the first time since meeting him, I found myself wondering if his excitement about us was actually pushing me away instead of bringing me closer.
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