As it turns out, today was the best day for the Pumpkin Walk. Demetria and I had planned to go earlier, but our ward actually decided to make this activity our Home Evening for the week and carpool there, which worked for us. The weather was great, we arrived fine, Demetria and I ran into Eliza, and we were introduced to... The Guy.
We met him while we sat on the curb around the side of the church with the other members in our ward. Eliza had been out of town for the weekend, so we caught her up to speed on how things had been for us. Also, Demetria told me there was a 50% chance of rain, and encouraged me to bring my umbrella. I was a bit reluctant, not looking forward to toting it around, but I took it in the end, and it wasn't so bad. Didn't rain, but that was fine.
It was awhile before we started breaking into carpool groups. We'd been told to arrive at 7:00, and it was maybe 7:10 when one of the elders in the ward outlined a vague plan for the night: Carpool, pumpkins, return for treats. We were released to find our own groups. The three of us were just standing up when this talk boy walked quickly past Demetria and I, straight up to Eliza, and asked her if she needed a ride.
Okay. Red flag (or at least a yellow flag). I believe the correct way to approach this situation would have been, "Hey, I have three seats- Do you guys want to ride with me?"
I asked this guy if we could join them and how many his car fit. He completely ignored me, until I asked a second time. Then he hesitated, possibly not wanting to tell me how many seats he had, but he did in the end. Three. The three of us could all ride with him. But he obviously didn't want us to. Perhaps he was Eliza's boyfriend? She was cheerful and nice, after all, and he'd gone straight for her.
We made our way up to the Greenville Elementary area where the Pumpkin Walk was held. Eliza sat up front. Our driver talked to her the whole way, except for one time when (after asking Eliza) he asked Demetria and I where we were living. Turns out he lives in Blue Square too, but in a different building.
At last, we arrived. I got out of the car slowly, squinting up at the sky and trying to decide if I should bring my umbrella or leave it behind. The sky was very dark, and the clouds were dark. However, there didn't seem to be clouds overhead. In the middle of my thoughts, Eliza politely asked me to shut the door- I'd left it open as I debated the umbrella question. Once I closed it, the lights went out. She and the boy were still inside, and the parking lot was dark. I shot a startled look to Demetria, who stood on the opposite side of the car, and quickly headed around to join her. Maybe they were going to kiss, and wanted to be alone for a minute?
Turns out, he was backing up the car and reparking. Oh. Okay. In my defense, Demetria thought the same thing I did. She whispered to me, "I think he likes her. I'm just getting that vibe."
Here was the thing- he acted so comfortable around her, and Eliza is so nice to everybody, that Demetria and I hovered at the sidelines unsure if she liked him back or not. We didn't want to be overprotective judgmental friends if she did, but we couldn't decide what to think of him at first. He wasn't exactly creepy per se, but he was definitely a bit odd. I did notice that he had a very Halloween-ish laugh. I think he laughed about sixty times the whole night, always starting softly and then growing louder, shifting from "Heh heh"s to "Ha ha"s. Like a cackle. It was very interesting and I may just have to give a character a laugh like that someday.
We took a five-minute shuttle ride from the parking lot to the Walk. First, there was a slow, snaking line to wait in, but we had a good view of a nice mural of owls, so that was okay. Once we were inside I found that it was a bit like the Festival of Trees, only with pumpkins, and in the dark, and with everyone walking in a very slow circle.
There were some very interesting choices of scenes set up. Several astronauts. Several military personnel. Hillary Clintons and Donald Trumps. A row of Hershey Kiss pumpkins armed with knives and prepared to do battle with giant M&Ms. Multiple Charlie Brown scenarios (I think at least three). One area was dedicated entirely to Steve Jobs. There was also a scene of a boy in a doctor's office with his pants partway down and his rear showing towards us. I guess it was a remake of a famous painting or something, but it totally caught me by surprise.
Anyway, we were hardly through the gate when our driver flat-out asked Eliza, "So, are you dating anyone?" Caught off guard, Eliza mumbled something about how there was another guy she was interested in. She then tried to redirect his attention to the scene on our right, which consisted of people with human clothes and pumpkins for faces (Probably the "Hamilton" musical scene, if I'm remembering correctly).
After a slight pause, the boy chuckled uncertainly and said, "So, I don't understand what you mean when you said you had friends". Yes, she has friends. They're right next to you. He pressed a little more, but Eliza gave up answering the question. She didn't need to explain herself
We kind of did that the whole night, pointing out silly things about the pumpkins, like how the shape of the gourd that made up Snoopy's face was perfect, or the cute little vegetable birds in various areas. Our ride made some interesting comments throughout. He'd learned on the way up that Eliza and Demetria were both interested in Japanese culture and enjoyed Japanese foods and such, so he'd say, "So, you're interested in Japan? Tell me about that," and then several minutes later, when the conversation had turned and faded, would randomly say, "Japan is cool. They have anime and stuff", and act like he'd loved Japan for years, trying to impress her.
Then a minute after that, when we were looking at and talking about the pumpkins, I remember he sort of snorted and said, "The problem is that Eliza is more interested in the pumpkins than I am". That type of stuff. So many questions about her interests, if she enjoyed video games, what she thought about this and that... Always targeting Eliza, though Demetria and I would occasionally chime in to lighten things up and remind him that hey, we were here too, and that was our friend he was jabbering with.
Also, he asked Eliza when she'd last gone to the temple, and subtly offered to go down to do baptisms with her sometime. On and on. Eliza's responses grew cooler and more vague, and we tried repeatedly to be verbal about the pumpkins, which was what we'd actually come here for, wasn't it? Demetria and I both had to be thinking, Is this guy for real? There are all those stereotypes about how boys aren't as skilled as girls when it comes to picking up on signals, but how is he not getting this? I guess someone should have outright told him, Buddy, let it go. Maybe another time.
Eventually the walk ended. We returned to the shuttle, and from the shuttle made our way towards the parking lot. As we neared the car, Demetria whispered to me that she was going to speak up now since Eliza was clearly uninterested in this guy. She called shotgun, and you could just feel the light draining out of him. I think he knew exactly what was going on.
Still, he didn't say anything more about it, aside from a slightly disgruntled comment about Demetria rather than Eliza being his navigator. We returned to the church and swung by the kitchen for our promised treats: cookies, hot chocolate, and milk. I actually asked for the milk, although I did it jokingly to Demetria by pointing out the three empty jugs on the counter and saying that I could have had milk if we'd been back a little sooner. Brother Thurgood, one of the Bishopric, heard me and told me there was milk in the fridge that I could have, so that worked out.
We chatted for a few minutes. Demetria and I didn't voice anything, but I could tell we were both thinking the same thing: We're going to walk Eliza back to her place. We're not leaving without her.
Fortunately, it wasn't long before Eliza said, "Is it already nine? I need to get back". I immediately volunteered Demetria and I to walk her home. Easy request to make (and to excuse, if that had been necessary) what with her living between the church and Blue Square. Halfway down the hall, Demetria turned her head slightly and opened her mouth. Eliza immediately said, "If you're going to talk about that, wait until we get outside", so you know we weren't wrong.
As it turns out, Eliza had only met the guy the same instant Demetria and I did. He just out of nowhere started acting flirtatious, directly targeting her when we were right there and ignoring her obvious lack of interest in him. She thanked us four or five times for keeping our eyes out for her, and said she had mentally cheered when Demetria called shotgun. I cheerfully reminded everyone that for worst case scenarios, I had the umbrella to defend us with, and we laughed.
We stayed for a moment outside her building to talk about the pumpkins Demetria and I painted over the weekend. Eliza's an arts major, and we invited her to help us finish off the last of our batch. She's excited, and the plan is to have her come over tomorrow.
When we parted ways, Eliza said was glad to have us as friends. She called us the best, and said we were cute and sweet. I'll take it. Our driver was just a weird guy, but he was in our ward and we vaguely knew him (I think he played croquet with me and Demetria that one Home Evening night), so none of us were going to tell him directly that we thought that about him. Plus, we shouldn't have had to. Her disinterest was really obvious. That, and given how forward he was, we thought he knew Eliza well and they had to be good friends, and we didn't want to spoil that.
I don't think any of us felt unsafe, but we were all uncomfortable as the night wore on. Demetria said later that every time she's seen him in the past, he seems to be flirting with a different girl, testing the field. There's nothing inherently wrong with that if he's not in a relationship, but seriously... Brush up on your conversational skills, don't be so forward, and learn to recognize when the other party isn't interested.
So, adding to the list of things I'm grateful for tonight: I'm grateful for that excursion on Saturday that made getting to the Pumpkin Walk so complicated, because otherwise Demetria and I would have been there and done that, and Eliza would have been alone with this guy tonight. Well, she may have found other people to carpool with them, but when Demetria and I were standing directly next to her, we were ignored, and he obviously didn't want us to come with, so...
The interesting thing was, the Pumpkin Walk wasn't even the original plan for Home Evening. The plan for our ward was to visit a corn maze. However, around 5:30, I received a new text saying that plans had change: we were to meet at the church, where we'd be carpooling to the Pumpkin Walk.
Neither Demetria and I had been interested in going to the corn maze (or at least, we weren't excited about trying to cram it into our night after our own visit to the Pumpkin Walk) and weren't going to attend until we found out the plan had been updated. I wonder if Eliza would have ended up carpooling with The Guy alone to the corn maze had Demetria and I not come tonight?
Anyway, that was my evening and we got a nice laugh out of it. One of those interesting college stories that you'll keep with you forever, I guess.
