Last week, my friend Paul asked me if I wanted to get together this week and hang out or do something, just to get me out of the house. I said sure, so we set a date (Tuesday) and we ended up going to In-N-Out Burger. I hadn't actually been to In-N-Out in a while (though I live no further than 10 miles from 2 of them) and neither had he, so he was all for the idea.
On Monday, he MySpaced me and told me that "Randy and I" were going to be coming by to pick me up after work. Well...I didn't have a clue who Randy was, and I hadn't had much of a chance to talk to Paul all weekend, so it was kind of a curveball.
When I finally did get a chance to ask who Randy was, turns out Randy's an old HS friend of his who asked if he could come along because he loves In-N-Out, too, and he (Paul) felt bad saying no. Paul figured I would have no problem with this, so he said sure. I didn't have a huge problem with it - after all, we're just friends, and all we were doing was going to get a burger and hang out. But I was a tiny bit annoyed at not being at least informed ahead of time that there were going to be 3 of us, not 2.
On top of that, his friend has a little dog, an adorable miniature dachshund, that he takes everywhere with him, even to work. Which I didn't know until they were about five minutes from my house. I'm OK with small-to-medium sized dogs, so I had no real problems with this, except that: 1) my mom doesn't really like dogs, and I live with her, and 2) my infant niece and nephew were in the house at the time. I had to tell him I was fine with him bringing the dog along, but unfortunately, he'd have to leave the dog in the car. I felt really bad, because it was cold and a little rainy Tuesday night.
Later on, when Randy was outside letting the dog go (I told him it was OK to use the edge of our yard) and Paul was inside with me, checking out my new laptop, Paul apologized for Randy inviting himself along and bringing the dog with him without really checking with me at all first. He admitted that Randy was "a little weird about the dog" (I'll say!) and that he wanted to spend more time one-on-one with me (in fact, he'd really wanted to be with just me), so he'd be back next week, on his own. We had to cut our time short as it was, because Randy's dad locked himself out of their house and Randy was the only one with the key. Paul seemed really reluctant to leave - we hugged and kissed (platonically, I assure you!) for a good 5-10 minutes.
I told him it was OK, but next time to give me a little advance warning. I'm fairly flexible and laidback, but I was kind of disappointed, because I didn't get time to myself with my friend (OK, so I really like him. A lot), which I really wanted.
I'm pretty sure I didn't let the disappointment show through. Randy was a sweet guy - if a little bit weird about the dog. And I did my best not to make him feel like a third wheel. I introduced him to my parents, my brother, and my baby niece and nephew (my brother and the kids were visiting that night while my SIL was at a party with her moms' club) - even though I had barely just met him myself. I included him in our joking and teasing, and made conversation with him and stuff (even though I forgot his name at one point - oops!).
I felt bad for the guy, and even though I really, really wanted my time alone with Paul, I figured I'd go with the spirit of the season and say, "The more, the merrier!" He was a nice guy, but I don't want this to become a pattern, either. One of my pet peeves is people who invite themselves along to things (I had a roommate in college who did this constantly, and it drove me crazy), but I don't want Paul to think I'm a total selfish witch, either.
Did I do OK, considering?
