A little while ago we asked readers to submit their Valentine’s Day stories. We got this one by a guy who goes by Jimmy Future, and thought it was definitely worth posting. Thanks Jimmy!
by Jimmy Future
Four years and a few weeks ago I had a sudden “back-to-mine” party. 8 or so people piled into my apartment in Osaka for wine and chatting. We were all a bit merry already. My friend had told me about a French girl he was seeing. He brought her and she brought her sister. To be honest I didn’t speak with either of them much.
…until the sister spilled red wine on my roommate’s white shirt! He got pissy; she and I tried to mop it up, and I pulled him aside for a little conference on how to delicately kill this party.
My friend took everyone back to his place, including the lovely French girl who, little did I know, was the future mother of my children.
A couple of weeks later I ran into her on the stairs of a club. I was coming, she was leaving. We had a bright “hey there” and for some reason, we both said “oh, see you soon”. Later we both said that we had a feeling it was true. I certainly did.
A week after that, a Saturday, St. Valentine’s Day, I walked into another bar with my enormous bag of records intending to have one drink and split. I had already schlepped out to Kobe, the next city over, and back and those record bags are heavy. Plus, I didn’t have a girl and wasn’t looking for one after another dating stalemate a month or so before.
She was sitting near the entrance with a couple of girl friends. She invited me to join them. I did. We hit it off immediately and after much laughing I suggested we go around the corner to a little dance party I knew. She asked her friends; one bowed out and the other said yeah, sure. [RPQ’s Note: this is why it’s so important to leave your house! That’s two serendipitous meetings and it happens a lot if you just step outside your door regularly, keep your eyes open and interact with people…]
She was down to her last 10 dollars but wanted to pay her own cover charge, which was 10 dollars. Actually I didn’t offer, but when she said that, I said “oh, I’ll get you a drink.” We chatted with people, I disappeared for a while, found her again, gave her my hat to wear, danced, disappeared again, came back, and she confessed she didn’t really know how to dance. I gave her a little lesson on “feet go to the beats, arms go to the bass”. She wanted to buy me a drink but had no money. I noticed 10 bucks on the floor and pointed at it. This became the drink that sealed our fate, I guess, because she used it as her way of “asking” the friend if she minded parting ways, as she thought she would hang out with me for the night.
And hang out we did. I said I would give her a ride home on my bike but we’d have to drop my records off first (true). So that is how she came into my apartment again. I didn’t jump her bones, just fetched her an apple as she said she loved them. [RPQ’s Note: this is a great bounce here with lots of plausible deniability.]
Before long we were at her door and she suggested a glass of wine. Great!
Long story short, we got a bit of sleep, stayed in bed half the day, and parted ways back in town about 7pm Sunday night. Our first date lasted about 18 hours – a good sign. She asked me if I had read “The Game.” I had. So had she, so when I disappeared, put my hat on her head, and teased her about her dancing, she saw right through it, but took it as a sign that I was interested. We had a good laugh about that. Who was gaming who? Did it matter?
As I write, four years later, it’s our anniversary. We are married, bought an apartment together and have a 1-year-old daughter. She is my best friend and the woman of my dreams. I’ve been with tall, model-looking women and fashion-plates, cool chicks and the rest of it, but this lady for me has something none of those ever did – a bright and beautiful soul. My valentine.
It’s nice that our anniversary of meeting is so easy to remember, as men tend to forget these things but women don’t!
