Happy Birthday

Everything that happened thereafter now seems to have been inevitable. With Jackie and I conversing on a somewhat regular basis, we were bound to meet each other in person sooner or later. It was sooner than I thought and later than I hoped. Equally true: Adrienne was bound to find out about Jackie.

It was winter break—late December 1999—just before Y2K was supposed to crash the world’s computers. I had met more people online by that time, including two girls who are the only remaining names from my old AOL days that are still on my buddy list, one of which is like a little sister, and the other who could have complicated my situation even further (but she already had a boyfriend at the time, and there is something about unavailable women that make me like them less). Jackie’s birthday was coming up the next month, and for some reason, she invited me.

Now, I do not know what it was that made her have that certain affinity towards me in the past. Maybe it was because she had just broken up with an abusive boyfriend (who happened to share my name) and I was someone that was being nice to her. Maybe it was because she had to transfer to the newly built school in her area, having to leave some friends behind in her former high school, which then clouded her thoughts. Whatever it was, she still invited me to her birthday party and told me that I could bring a friend for company.

The party was slated to be on the eighth of January—a Saturday. Her real birthday was on the eleventh, which fell on a Tuesday, so she decided to have the party earlier on the weekend. I do not know how I still remember that, but I do.

Of course, I said yes to her invitation. How could I not? I obviously still had my own affinity towards her, and I was not about to pass up an opportunity to meet her in person. Out of courtesy, I talked it over with Adrienne before I actually went. I had seen many television shows and movies before to know that hiding things from a significant other will only make things worse. Apparently, however, I had not seen enough to know that I should not have hidden the fact that I still liked Jackie at the time.

So that was how Adrienne first heard of Jackie. I am not quite sure if I mentioned that we met online, but it did not matter. Adrienne was okay with me going. She was really an understanding person, even more so than I thought anyone could be.

The clock struck midnight on New Years Eve, and nothing happened to our computer. Nothing happened to anyone’s computer. It was all just a scare. All that was left was the trash from the celebration the night before. Then a week passed, and it turned into the eighth of the month.

I had asked my closest friend at the time, Justin, if he wanted to go with me to the party. Of course, he obliged after hearing the word “party.” Our friend Joel came with us, too. My neighbor was also supposed to go with us, but after dropping by home from the mall (where I was looking for a gift), his parents made him stay.

My mother (how embarrassing, huh) then drove the three of us to Jackie’s house. We stopped at the corner, upon request from Justin, so that we could walk to her house instead of them seeing us dropped off. She then told me to be careful and blah, blah, blah—the usual motherly things—then left for home, leaving us there, with nothing else to do but go to that party.