Meeting the Flatmates

Samson invited me to have dinner and stay over at his on Wednesday night. It would be a nice chilled evening, but also served the purpose of me being able to meet his housemates. I had stayed at his the previous Wednesday too, but his flatmates were still on their skiing holiday, so it had been a quiet evening in for just the two of us. This time, I was feeling a little bit nervous because of the meet. I've always felt a little bit awkward being around people I don't know, or at least the perception or anticipation of it makes me feel that way. Still, I was looking forward to it and we got lucky when management let us leave work an hour early because of the snowy conditions. It felt really nice leaving work with him, then getting the tube together, him being a gentleman as ever and letting me sit down, then standing up for the rest of the journey to allow ladies who were standing up to take any seats that became available. We each read the paper as we travelled and then walked the short walk back to his place, stopping at the shop to buy stuff for dinner. I had some iced currant buns with me that I had bought on the way to work, so he made tea to go with them when we got in and we sat down to watch some telly.

After a while, one of his flatmates, (Scousey-P) arrived home and said a quick hello while getting ready to go straight back out to meet a friend for a drink. He left not too long after and then his other flatmate (Paxton) arrived, kitted out in his bike gear. He came over and shook my hand and gave me a kiss on the cheek, introducing himself and generally making me feel at home. He was going to make some stuffed peppers for dinner and asked if we wanted some, so we decided to accept his generous offer in lieu of the baked potatoes we had planned. I sat and had a drink, while Samson buzzed in and out of the kitchen, going in to help when needed and coming to keep me company when not. While waiting, Samson and I took the Christmas decorations (huge glass baubles) off the Christmas tree and then removed the fairy lights and put everything away. It was weird, we weren't really doing anything different than I could be doing at home or anywhere else, but it felt really comfortable, like I belonged there, or if not belonged, then at least like I wasn't out of place.

Eventually dinner was ready and they lit the tea lights on the table and brought in three fancy looking dishes. Paxton had made a special meat-free version for me, which I felt a little bit bad about, but he was very sweet about it. The food was good and the company was lovely too. It was nice being around Samson in his own place, with his friends, getting to know them and seeing how he was in his usual environment. I didn't feel anywhere near as awkward as I had imagined I could feel, in fact, I didn't feel awkward at all. We talked, Paxton asked me some questions and I did the same to him and we had a chilled out dinner, with jazz playing in the background. The football was on telly too, Liverpool versus Reading in the FA Cup, and we kept an eye on it while eating and talking. After dinner, we watched the rest of the match, and the boys tried hard to contain their glee at Liverpool's eventual defeat, knowing that they could tease Scousey-P mercilessly about this in the morning. We chilled together most of the evening, then soon it was time for bed. It was such a nice evening. In the morning, I managed to get up in time to get into the shower first under Samson's instructions. We got ready relatively quickly, but still felt sleepy-headed and sat arm-in-arm on the tube in trying to fight the tired feeling. I never thought I'd really want to work in the same place as someone, but it was actually quite cool travelling in together, knowing that we'd see each other, even if only from afar, at some point during the day or could exchange an email here and there.

I've only just realised that I've not really had this before. The whole episode with NY Guy was never a proper relationship in the sense of us physically being able to spend time together and with The Ex, it mostly revolved around him and his surroundings, partly because I wasn't really independent enough and my parents were too strict for it to be otherwise, partly because he was the dominant force in that relationship, partly because I was a pushover, partly because we were both young and partly because we didn't really know any different. What I like most is that I rarely have to think about the details and worry over things, because everything just seems to fall into place with Samson. We're both just taking it as it comes, not getting over-analytical, not questioning everything, just enjoying each others' company. It's the first time in a long time, maybe ever, that I have felt this comfortable, content and happy about such a situation. He is a very cool guy. And for the first time in ages, I am starting to feel like myself again.