I met Saltine before Pup did, at a munch a month or two prior. I first introduced them (the individual, preferred pronoun) in my post about being a brilliant wingwoman. But, yes, I’d met them prior to that time at a munch, where they gave me their number.
We texted rather sparsely. They’d send me a message, I’d reply a few hours later, they’d reply the next day. We were perfectly cordial with each other. I was a little taken aback to eventually discover that they were only eighteen years old (call me ageist or whatever else) and I figured that I would keep stuff friendly but not play with them or anything like that. When they asked if I was coming to a play party, I gave a soft maybe and – because my schedule was a little crazy – didn’t end up going.
But at an event in November, I noticed Pup checking Saltine out and I figured I’d help that along. After all, he didn’t mind dating younger the way I do and I was, at the time, his only partner. So, when the event ended, I managed to rally together Pup, Saltine, and some others to go share some fries.
As we walked over, we originally made our way up the block Wizard of Oz style: Pup, Saltine, my friend and I. I grabbed my friend by the arm and made her hang back with me so Pup and Saltine could walk ahead. At the restaurant, I went over to the bar first to talk to someone so that when I finally got to the table, I wasn’t sitting by Pup and he couldn’t just fall back on talking to me.
At the end of the night, Pup and I left together. Once we were outside, I couldn’t hold it in and blurted out, “please tell me you got their number.”
“Yeah,” he said. We high-fived and then he did that awkward walking-on-eggshells poly speech about blah blah how great the other partner is blah blah thank you for understanding. It’s a speech I’ve heard myself give so many times whenever I felt guilty for enjoying someone else, and hearing it out of his mouth, I realized how silly it sounded.
Over the next few days, I kept pestering to him to make plans with them. And, finally, they’d arranged to go get coffee. But, a few days before their plans, while Pup and I were doing some work at a cafe when they texted asking him for help with their homework.
“I don’t get why they’re texting me,” Pup said, ever-oblivious, “I don’t even-”
I rolled my eyes. “Jesus Christ. They are trying to hang out with you. Invite them here.”
So, Saltine showed up. I was a little embarrassed – I’d just spent the night at Pup’s place and I was wearing sweatpants and no makeup and my hair was a mess – and I hadn’t planned on being seen by anybody I hadn’t already woken up with. But, I took one for the team and stuck around, making sure everything was going well between them. And, when I knew the time was right, I excused myself and left the two.
That evening, I checked my phone to make sure he wasn’t free to text me. And the next morning, I found a message from him saying they’d spent the night and that the two of them were getting along swimmingly, in addition to having really good energy. I may have high-fived myself in the solitude of my bedroom.