Here's Where The Problem Started (Chapter 3)

‘The Guy Who Makes You Laugh’

He can be highly unattractive, could be the biggest arsehole in the world with nothing going for him and a dodgy snaggle tooth, but the day he makes you laugh continuously, suddenly his looks no longer matter, his personality isn’t that important and you’re suddenly head over heels in ‘laugh’

I was in the bath, it was about nine o’clock in the evening, and I had my mobile phone a Nokia Face-off, being one of THE most fashionable phones you could have at the time, leaning on the corner of the bath as not to fall into the water.  I don’t actually know why I brought the phone into the bathroom with me at all, I never received many phone calls back then and it never had Apps or usable features to entertain me whilst bathing!  So it was merely in the hope that someone, anyone would ring me, and God forbid I missed that call! If I had left my phone on my bed like any other semi normal person would have done, I probably would have never spoken to him.  Laying in the bath, bored, I heard my phone ring.  Hands wet, towel had fallen on the floor so there was no hope in drying them properly, being so excited I forgot I was surrounded by water, thought I had jeans on and tried to wipe my hands down my legs in order to dry them, clearly never worked! How stupid of me.  I looked at the screen and it was a withheld number.  Even more intriguing, there was no way in hell I was going to miss this call so wet hands and all I picked it up and answered it.

“Hello?” I spoke cautiously as it was withheld number
“Yo!” they replied.

I recognised the voice instantly it was Bryan a boy that I had known for a few years through other friends.  I spoke to him for about twenty minutes and he told me he was with a friend.  I wasn’t interested, I was shy and I had already nearly wet myself because I didn’t speak to anyone new on my mobile, not to mention I don’t remember giving him my phone number!  We all remember how it was back in those days with the ‘I have a friend’ routine! He was very persistent in telling me that his friend wanted to talk to me.  After a little while I stopped objecting. It was exciting speaking to new people.  So he passed the phone to this anonymous friend and we spoke.  He made me laugh instantly and I really liked his voice.  The fact I had no idea who I was talking to left me intrigued.  Who was this fellow, with his confident yet modest approach?  Why did he want to talk to me?  Where did he know me from and why did I not know who he was?

During our conversation Bryan and The Boy kept playing childish games and immature tricks on me.  They would swap the phone between themselves mid conversation.  The boy would do voices and pretend there were more then just himself and Bryan in the room.  Was this supposed to impress me?  I can’t however pretend that my childish humour didn’t completely lap it up, I was laughing constantly! The Boy proceeded in telling me he had a twin brother and that was who he was giving the phone to during the call, he kept switching between characters.  At first I would be talking to him and then to his twin then possibly back to Bryan then back to The Boy.  It was hilarious and it aided in giving me an idea of his sense of humour.  It was clearly childish, as childish as my own considering I laughed at every joke!  Eventually I decided it was time for me to get out of the bath, I was wrinkled enough and had been speaking to them for so long that I had hardly washed myself and the bath water had gone cold.  Washing the good bits with cold water is not my idea of fun! So I needed to end the call, I told the boys it was nice talking to them and rather abruptly said goodbye and hung up.  I couldn’t give them the chance to lure me into another conversation I would’ve sat talking to them, well him all night.  The smile on my face was never ending.  How fickle of me, I had spoken to someone who I knew nothing about and yet I was happy about it.  That was new for me.  I like to analyse things and people, I’m somewhat shallow, if a guy isn’t attractive then I’m not at all interested but for some reason the intrigue had me completely interested in this stranger.  I wanted to know more about him, but how?  I didn’t even know his real name I just had to refer to him as The Boy in my mind because they had told me lies and fake names.

The Boy…who knew then what one phone call would lead to

Around an hour passed by and I was sitting in the living room with my dad and my mum still thinking about him, when unexpectedly my phone started to ring again.  I was baffled! Another phone call, for me!? Who would be calling me at ten o’clock in the evening? My friends and I wouldn’t need to speak about anything as we would be meeting up at seven in the morning.  The more the phone rang the more my heart raced at the possibility of it being Bryan and The Boy again.  I sat looking at the screen flashing Withheld Number and listened to the ring tone play to its final ring and at the last second before the call would have been forwarded to voicemail, I found enough courage and answered.  It was him! Something inside me knew my reaction was weird, but the overwhelming feeling of not wanting to miss the call just in case it was him told me that if anything would happen from these calls it was what I wanted.  I asked him almost instantly, after the initial hello and in hearing his voice knowing it was him and not Bryan,

“How come you have my number? I never gave it to you”
He sounded startled but replied,
“Oh err when me and Bryan called earlier it was from my mum’s phone.  The number was in dialled calls and I just called back. Shouldn’t I have called?”
I laughed,
“No it’s fine, I don’t mind speaking to you and I’m not rude enough to just hang up anyway!”

I actually was rude enough to hang up the phone and I think if it had been any one else I might have but I didn’t want to stop speaking to him, he was exciting, new and fresh.  We continued to talk for approximately four hours.  He laughed, I laughed. He was so funny and down to earth, really quite sweet and jolly.  We asked each other a million questions, I felt like I had known him all my life not just a few hours.  I was so comfortable straight away.  I felt like I had fallen but I didn’t want to, it was too complicated.  I liked someone else.  I was in a relationship with someone else.  However much that relationship was subsiding, I wouldn’t cheat and as I was such a prude talking to someone else was like a sin!  I think what really felt like the sin was that I knew I was attracted to the person I was talking to.   Not physically but something was drawing me to him and I didn’t want it to stop.  Conflicting emotions made me question my behaviour.  Was it normal to speak to strange boys who randomly call you whilst having a boyfriend?  Was it normal to be speaking to someone other then your boyfriend at bedtime?  Was it ok that I probably knew my boyfriend would have been trying to call me throughout the duration I was on the phone to The Boy but I put that to the back of my mind? I managed to convince myself it was just a phone call and I had nothing to worry about.  Innocent conversation to pass the time! That’s what it was and I needed to stop over thinking.

When The Boy and I had finished speaking, we hadn’t ran out of conversation but we just thought best to end the conversation as it was now around two o’clock in the morning and we both had to be up early so we mutually decided it best to end the call.  I fell asleep smiling.  I hadn’t laughed until my cheeks hurt for so long and I surely hadn’t laughed until my gums hurt ever!  I couldn’t help it, everything he said was hilarious to me.  This is why I highlight the fact that when someone can make you laugh like that, you forget all normal things and rational behaviour doesn’t exist.  This is why back then, right now, in any situation ‘The Guy Who Makes You Laugh’ is deadly! Especially when your current situation isn’t hitting all the expectations you thought it would.

I thought about him non-stop the next day.  Random thoughts started to enter my mind and I started to feel bad for my boyfriend.  I thought maybe I had done something wrong.  Clearly I felt I had done something I wasn’t completely comfortable with or I wouldn’t have been questioning myself.  But if I’m completely honest, I didn’t actually care!  How could I have done anything wrong, I was just talking and had made a new friend!? However, the immediate question to ask yourself, which I didn’t ask myself then, but do ask myself now is, WOULD I HAVE LIKED TO KNOW MY BOYFRIEND WAS SPEAKING TO A FEMALE FOR HOURS ON THE PHONE, UNTIL BEDTIME AND ENJOYING IT!? No need to point out that this is completely a rhetorical question however most of us will answer it in the same way in our heads and for those who don’t, well your devil spawn! (I joke I joke) but you see where I’m going with this, some things in relationships are touch and go.  You won’t know the answer until you do it and see the reaction of your partner.  This however I did not do! So in all fairness, I believe that when you keep something a secret or don’t feel completely comfortable sharing that thing with your partner, it’s the unconscious way of telling yourself that you’ve done something wrong or at least something to be frowned upon!  Unfortunately for my boyfriend but very fortunate for me, The Boy and I spoke every night on the phone from that day forward.  We would speak about everything.  It was like having an anonymous new best friend.

But what did I really know about him? What did he look like and who was he?