Someone new? Part 2.

That first night we barely slept, we were very excited about spending time together and talking to each other. We woke up early the next morning and went out for breakfast. He really wanted to go to the Raiders game that day, he wanted me to go with him but I told him I couldn't join him. Tickets were pretty expensive and it wasn't really in my monthly budget to spend that much money in a football game. He said he would pay my ticket and he tried finding last minute tickets. While having breakfast, there was a table right next to us with these guys who were going to the game. They had Raiders jerseys and so did Damien, so they started talking and Damien told them he really wanted to go but couldn't find tickets. Those guys were leaving, when one of them said he met a guy on Saturday at the stadium and that guy gave him his card because he had some extra tickets that he was selling. Damien was very excited and asked me to call him right away about the tickets. I did, he said he had some tickets and asked if we wanted them. He sounded shady, i didn't trust him. I explained to Damien that sometimes people do shady things in Mexico, they replicate exact copies of all sorts of tickets, sell them and just take the money and disappear once you realize the tickets are fake. I told Damien I could ask this guys to send me pictures of the tickets and get a better idea of what we were getting ourselves into but I didn't trust they guy. He sent the pictures and we decided to take a chance. We left the restaurant, stopped at my house so I could grab some fresh clothes and we headed to the stadium.

We found the guy with the tickets, we checked the tickets. They looked super authentic so Damien gave him the money, it was a lot of money. We went in, and once they checked our tickets they were fake. When we got in I felt something strong telling me that they were fake. He was super disappointed. I will never forget his face expression and the way I felt like I failed. We left the stadium, he didn't know what to do. I was very upset, and he was even more upset. I tried calling the guy and of course he never answered. I called one of my friends and asked her to call the guy and pretend she wanted to buy tickets, ask to meet him, and then I would show up, confront him and asked for the money back. My friend tried calling him, but it was too late, the guy had turned off his phone. I went out and tried to find him close to where we met him but it was useless. I notices a bunch of shady guys there, they were probably a shady gang and getting myself into that would have been dangerous and I would have risked my safety and Damien's. I tried calling that guy again but nothing happened. That was it, no tickets and the money was gone. I tried getting an Uber because I just wanted to get out of there. The app wasn't working so I grabbed the first cab I found and got out of there. The cab was super shady and I was a bit worried something would happen. Damien still wanted to go to a bar and watch the game. I took him to a bar near my house.

I felt horrible about the whole thing, I couldn't really talk to him because I was feeling so guilty and like I failed. I made the best I could to show him the good side of Mexico and a great time the night before and I felt like everything was ruined. While at the bar I told him to order, meanwhile I went to the closest ATM and got as much money as I could and had left in my account, went back to the bar and gave him that money. He was very excited about the game, about having me there with him and he payed for my ticket so I felt like I needed to give him back my part or at least some of it. He refused to take my money, said it wasn't my fault. I insisted, he insisted too, so we agreed to talk about it later; meanwhile we tried to have a good time. We ordered some food and drinks, he ordered many drinks. We talked and after a while he wanted to leave. Raiders were losing and he was over the whole situation, so we went back to my house so I could grab a bunch of clothes for the rest of the weekend and then we went back to his hotel. We took a nap and decided to go out later that night.

That nap was wonderful, we woke rested and with a clear mind. I took him to the "Palacio de Bellas Artes" ( Palace of Arts). We walked down town and we tried to find a restaurant but we were not successful since it was Sunday night. We enjoyed our time, but I still had that bad experience in my head.
( Photo I took of Bellas Artes that night)

Next day we got up early and started touring around. We had brunch down town at The Gran Hotel of Mexico, the view was amazing and so was the food. I've never been there before and it felt super special to share that with him. We walked around down town, had a beer, talked and talked. Later we went to check out the museums, he was very excited about those. To our surprise when we got there, all museums were closed. Failure number 2!!!
( Photo of me at Gran Hotel Mexico, taken by Damien. He took plenty of pictured of me without saying anything while I was distracted)

At this point I was just trying lo laugh about the whole thing. So we went back to his hotel. Later I showed him around Polanco, one of the most exclusive areas of the city, we went to a mall and had some dinner. When we were at the mall we could both feel some tension between us. He even said I should go back home if I was not feeling well that I didn't have to stay with him, he could be on his own. I really wanted to be with him but I didn't know if he was just being polite about it and if he was actually over the whole thing. So we walked for a while and talked. I asked him to be honest about it and he said he really wanted me to stay with him and so did I. I guess it was normal to have tension when so many things went the wrong way and not how we expected. But thats life, right? Sometimes things don't go the way we plan, and we have to go with the flow for a little while, stick together if we have someone special and just keep walking. That's what we did and that really made me think about it, because we did stick together through a hard time, and that made me feel really curious about what was going on between us. We finally talked about this whole situation and about him taking the money I was offering to make up for the stolen money the day before. He said he would take it only if I accepted a gift in return, I didn't want anything in return, I wanted to help. He insisted so I agreed to that gift. He took his t-shirt off, he wore that day a t-shirt from a concert he went to around September, it was a shirt from a Silversun Pickups concert, I love that band and he knew I loved that band since we met online. So he was wearing that t-shirt, he took it off and gave it to me. I was holding back the tears and really struggled to hold them back. He went to the bathroom and as soon as I was alone for a minute i couldn't help myself and cried. It was the most thoughtful thing anyone did for me. I couldn't believe someone I just met would be thoughtful like that, because he said he already had that t-shirt thing planned since he came to Mexico. I couldn't believe I was crying about it and it just made things stronger and my mind curiouser.

( Wearing the Silversun Pickups t-shirt he gave me)

We went back to his hotel later that night, it was our last night together, or so we thought. The energy between us was very special that night I could really feel him. I could sense "something more I can't explain", I could read it in his body language, in his eyes. It's like our bodies were communicating what our words weren't. I felt something extremely special I've never felt before and I wanted to say something but it felt too much, I didn't want to freak him out, I didn't want to freak myself out. I was already a bit freaked out because of everything that I was feeling felt too much. We connected so deeply, beyond words. I felt like that could not be the end of it. That connection had to be something else.

We said goodbye early morning the next day. That goodbye was pretty bad. We kissed, hugged, he said I should come with him to Playa, we said we would stay in touch, and we each took a car and left. He went to the airport, I went home and back to the office.

I could not get him off my mind. We texted, he showed me what he was up to in Playa del Carmen. I really wanted to be there. I came home and told my roommates about everything that happened and one of them said: " fuck it, grab a flight and go with him for the weekend". I checked my bank account, did some adjudgments. I talked to him and he said he would really love it if I joined him. So I checked flights and prices we were great.
( Damien's legs at the beach, tempting me to meet him there)

It was happening! I was going to meet him again for the weekend in Playa del Carmen!

Will continue Part 3.

Ana <3