A Story in Six Parts - Part I

I was 21, and I had never had a boyfriend, not for a lack of trying. I was obsessed with trying to find a relationship, but this was before online dating, and my lack of confidence with the opposite sex got in the way of meeting, or dating, potential suitors. When I first met Greg, we were at a mutual friend Aaron’s house and he was telling me a story about his girlfriend, and my first thought when he told me about her was, “Even this guy has a girlfriend!” I was internally outraged. It seemed like everyone had a relationship but me. He was a dirty hippy, with a messy ginger beard, a stupid hat; and a girlfriend. We talked a little about tree planting, which I had signed up to do that summer, and his amazing girlfriend (also a tree planter). It was all small talk that made a little impression on me, serving mainly to remind me about how desperate I was for male attention.