Becoming The Browns - Part 4

When we last talked, you learned that Mr Brown, me and his college "fling" were all moving to the Chicago area.

I'll be perfectly honest. After the interviews my life was a bit of a whirlwind of moving and starting a job and settling in with roommates and dealing with roommate drama and I basically forgot about Mr Brown. Remember, we hadn't exchanged contact information and he just slipped from my mind.

But sometime in late summer '99 I was walking through the cafeteria at work and saw this guy that looked strangely familiar. It took a minute to realize where we had met. And I could not for the life of me remember his name. And he refused to tell me. REFUSED! He just said "You'll figure it out" and went along his merry way.

Later that afternoon it did come to me. So I looked him up in the company directory and it turned out he worked just one floor up from me. So I went to say hello and catch up a bit. After that, we would occasionally pass each other in the cafeteria or halls or elevator. And we'd exchange a friendly hello but that was pretty much it. There was no spark, no interest, just casual acquaintance. As it turns out, there was a good reason for that.

Mr Brown, you see, was juggling several women. He was still dating the girl from back home. But he was also casually seeing the college "fling". Add to that another woman from his group at work who seemed to have an interest in him and a neighbor who seemed a little too neighborly (he relied on her for a few rides to the grocery store after he was in a minor fender-bender) and he had his hands full. Too full really. It was a hard time for him I think. But he was young and just figuring out this life stuff.

For my part, I was just enjoying being young and single in the city. I spent many weekends with my friends hanging out at parties and bars and girls night out and girls night in. We were exploring all the city had to offer and having a darn good time doing it. There were no specific guys - just the occasional date here and there that never really led anywhere. I was working like a maniac on a major project. There were a few months I was averaging 75 hours a week. That part wasn't so fun. But I made a lot of good friends from that project (big hugs Amy! I miss you!)

And then one day in the summer of 2000 I got a very unexpected phone call. It was my former roommate's (and still friend) former boyfriend. They hadn't parted on very good terms. I found it strange that he called but we talked for a long time and realized we had a lot in common. Thus began my "blue period"...