LJ Idol Week 8: No Comment

[flipflop_diva]

It was Fourth of July weekend. That was always a big weekend in our family growing up. My parents had a cabin up in the mountains. We’d head up there with family friends, spend the weekend with twelve to sixteen people crammed into a twelve-hundred square-foot house, every bed, couch, chair and floor space taken up by sleeping bags.

We’d spend our days at the lake, swimming in the water, sunbathing on the shore and buying from the snack bar all the candy and ice cream and nachos we could hold in our hands. We’d spend nights playing Yahtzee and Monopoly, reading old Home & Garden magazines my mom had lying around and laughing. When we got old enough, we made various cocktails and turned the game-playing into drinking games.

This weekend was a little different. Both my sister and I were bringing our boyfriends. She had been seeing Brian for almost three months, about the same time I had been with Delton.

I’d had some doubts about him for the past few weeks. He was a little more aggressive than I liked, a little less mature than I preferred. But the friends who introduced us said he was a good guy, said to give him a chance, said that sometimes it takes more time than others.

So up to the mountains we went.

My sister and I were there first, with our dad, to have some family time. The boys both came a day after us.

Brian — my sister’s then boyfriend and now her husband of eleven years — came in first. He handed my dad a bottle of tequila and a pack of cigars that had my dad grinning. (The only thing he didn’t super approve of was the Notre Dame shirt he was sporting. He still doesn’t really approve of that.)

Delton came next, called my dad ‘Big D’ (his name is Daniel), slapped him on the back and started chatting him up about wrestling (my dad has never watched wrestling in his life). It seemed a little awkward, but no one said anything, so I didn’t either.

The weekend went on from there. More people arrived, the fun got under way. Delton spent the time he wasn’t spending with me with my dad. They did tequila shots and at one point seemed like they were having a serious conversation.

I had an uneasy feeling, but everyone was smiling. Everyone seemed happy.

“He’s a nice guy,” my dad said to me right before we got in the car to drive home.

“Yeah,” I said. I didn’t mention any of the things that felt off to me. My dad liked him, so maybe it was just my imagination.

On the way home, Delton and I had time to talk.

“I gave your dad a ring,” he said.

I almost drove off the road.

“You did what?”

“I gave him a ring,” he repeated, like this was something super common. “One of my army rings. It means I’m serious about you.”

“You gave … my dad … a ring?” I repeated slowly.

“Yup, he was really happy!” he said.

The uneasy feeling in my stomach twisted. But my dad hadn’t said anything. Maybe he had liked it? That seemed weird, but maybe. I let it go.

Three months later, Delton and I were still together, but the moments of uneasiness were growing. More and more, I was finding myself doing things to avoid spending time with him.

“I’m not sure this is working,” I told him one night, but he was persistent. He told me all the things I wanted to hear — that he loved me, that I was special, that he could see a future with us, that everything was fixable, that I should just give him a little more time.

My father was having a housewarming party that upcoming weekend. We had both been planning to go. I figured maybe it was a good chance to see how things went.

It did not go well.

The party was on a Saturday, full of tons of people I hadn’t seen in two, three, four years. Friends I had known all my life but rarely saw. I introduced Delton to all of them, sat down to talk with them.

He pulled me aside when I went to refill my wine.

“We should go drive up in the hills,” he said. “I heard there are apple orchards.”

“There are,” I answered. “Maybe we can do that tomorrow.”

“We should go right now.”

I frowned. “The party just started.”

“We’ll just be gone a few hours.”

“I’m not leaving in the middle of the party.”

“Why not?”

“Because these are my friends and I haven’t seen them in years and that would be rude?”

“I’m your boyfriend.”

“And you’ll be my boyfriend tomorrow. We can do it then.”

“You’re being so mean!”

He stomped off then. Literally. Stomped across the living room, out the back door and to the stone bench that was in the very back of my dad’s yard. Where he stayed, pouting, for two hours.

“Is he …. pouting?” my sister asked me near the end of that two hours.

“Yes,” I said. “He’s mad I won’t go look at apple orchards with him.”

“In the middle of the party?”

“Yeah.”

“Huh,” she finally said.

She didn’t say anything else. Delton finally came back inside. The next day we drove by the apple orchards before we headed back home.

We talked about high school on that car ride. I mentioned how much I had changed in the eight years since graduation, how proud I was starting to be of the person I was becoming.

“I don’t think I’ve changed at all from high school!” Delton said proudly.

I stared at him. “You haven’t?”

“Nope.” He grinned.

“That’s a good thing?”

“I was already great in high school!”

We broke up two weeks later, but in all truthfulness, the decision was made right there.

Once it was official, I called my sister to tell her.

“Did you do it or did he?” she asked carefully.

“I did.”

“Oh, thank God!” she said. “I could not stand him!”

“What? But you never said anything!”

“I didn’t want you to think I didn’t like him!”

“But I didn’t really like him and I thought I was crazy!”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t think Dad liked him either.”

I called my dad. He was delighted.

“He proposed to me!” he said. “He gave me a ring! What do I do with that?”

We laugh about it now — the ring proposal and the pouting on the bench. We even told David, the man I did marry, about it.

But I also made them promise to tell me what they really thought about future boyfriends. (Luckily for David, they all love him. I finally chose wisely.)



Thank you for reading! This was written for Week 8 of therealljidol. Voting will be up later. If you would like to read any of the other entries for this week's topic, you can find them here.

Comments

[beeker121.livejournal.com]

Oh, the "none of us really liked him" conversation, I've had those with family before too. And yes it's probably good that they didn't interject earlier, when it may have been harder to hear, but it also could have simplified things.

This is well told.

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

“He proposed to me!” he said. “He gave me a ring! What do I do with that?”
Hahaha-- your dad thought that was as weird as you did. And because it was awkward (like, apparently, so many interactions with that guy) he went along with it.

What a Catch-22. Your family doesn't want to interfere, so they say nothing, but in the meantime you keep dating the guy because everyone ELSE seems to like him...

[sinnamongirl.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's hilarious and awful at the same time. He gave YOUR DAD a RING????? It's almost sweet but very weird at the same time - at least, I've never heard of such a thing.

[rayaso.livejournal.com]

How do you walk the fine line between telling and not telling? Tell a daughter you don't like her boyfriend, especially if she's in love, and you create one set of problems. Don't say anything, and it turns out he isn't good for her, and there is another set of problems. It looks like your family had your back, and probably would have said something. You were right about your initial feelings -- not a great guy for you.

[baxaphobia.livejournal.com]

Did your dad send the ring back? That guy was strange! And not changing from high school...well...that says everything you needed to know!

[l0retta.livejournal.com]

delton sounds a lot like an ex friend's ex boyfriend! :\ you write so well though; i could picture everything so clearly and this held my attention from the first line!

also, delton calling your dad big d reminded me of this (http://i.imgur.com/vUeyu1p.png) lmao.

[majesticzaichik.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you couldn't get out fast enough! Although I think it would have sped things up even more if your family had been up front about their feelings towards him.

[murielle.livejournal.com]

I am so glad you broke up with him! I must admit that though I couldn't lift my eyes from the screen I was dreading what I thought was coming.

Brilliantly well done!

[dee-aar2.livejournal.com]

It all goes to say trust your gut every single time ... the things picks up bad vibes the earliest.

Mighty glad that things worked out well and you didn't succumb to the pressure of belief that your folks liked him and you would be weird if you didn't.

He gave your dad a ring ( from his many ) .. because he was serious about you ..... ??? And why did he have so many rings ???

Well written ... had me engrossed through out :)