September 12, 2008

Black Dan

When Cole came to town to meet my friend, naturally he brought his friend. Being the start of football season and seeing as how the road trip from Vegas to Provo can take awhile, Dan* came along. The intention was for us to double all day. The two of us with Cole all day, fun and entertaining; the two of us with Cole and Dan all day. The best way to explain them is Cole is a bad-boy pretending to be good and Dan is a good-guy pretending to have a bad boy edge.

The day of adventure got off to a start with us shopping for clothes for the boy, that was when I met Dan*.  After a very anti-climatic shopping adventure the boys decided we needed to do an activity of some sort before the big game.  Having spent the last few years living in an area where ski lifts are abundant and fall weather is normal, we suggested a ride up one of the ski lifts to admire the view.  Now while we live close to the resorts, there is still a god 20 minute drive to get there and the boys were anxious to show off their car, a Hummer.  Now as most Hummers go these are no ordinary car, they are fully loaded to include DVD players and killer sound systems.  To show us the systems the boys wanted to throw in a movie, they had 2.  Dan was the most excited to show it off and puled out his favorite movie, a movie all about being a brotha' and having "soul power".  Now besides having a lame favorite movie, he didn't stop there, he had to pick out his favorite parts and replay them, over, and over, and over, and over, and...  it got really old.  Not only did he replay it a million times but he had to act it out, EVERY time.  Now picture a REALLY white guy, with no rhythm, trying to act out a little rap-secret handshake sequence with a dance.  It shouldn't take much imagination to see this.  now multiply whatever you are envisioning by 10 and you have Dan, now nicknamed, Black Dan.  (Fortunately for Dan, Cole took pity on him and turned the movie off but not before Dan had done enough to cement in his nickname!) 

We finally got to the ski resort and started the ride, being from the area, us girls were appropriately dressed in jeans, sweaters and jackets.  The boys however being from a much warmer climate were in shorts, T-shirts and flipflops.  About a quarter of way up the ski lift, they got cold, about half they way up they were freezing and complaining.  Cole, whom we liked but wanted to mess with a little still started talking to my friend about how he'd be much less cold if there was a girl sitting closer to him so us two girls (we were sitting in the middle between the boys) would huddle closer to each other which of course drove Cole crazy and we were all loving it!  Dan decided to try the same tactics, he did not get the same results.  I guess I should have been nicer but I saw no reason to string him along so rather than play the same coy game with him, us girls just huddled closer together and politely avoided touching him! 

We finally got off the ski lift and the boys wanted to take us with them to meet their friends for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, of course we went!  Between the waiting for all the guys to arrive and then waiting for our table we had about 30 minutes to kill.  Dan decided he needed a jacket.  I fully agreed since I had no intention of warming him up!  He announced he was going to walk down to the sporting good store and grab a jacket, I told him to have fun!  (why would I leave my friend?!)  this did not work.  Dan came over, grabbed me and practically drug me off to go with him.  Since we were having so much fun with Cole I decided I might as well take one for the team and participate willingly so off we went.  We got to the sporting goods store and the first thing Dan announced was I could pick out whatever jacket I wanted to for him.  (there was a comment about it being important I like it so I could steal it later since that is what girls like to do!)  Now having NO desire to steal his jacket, I could have cared less which one he picked out.  I told him to get a blue one since that was the school colors and he went and picked 2.  One was much more expensive then the other, noting that I suggested he get the cheaper one since the jacket was since he hadn't brought one with him.  My thought being that since he didn't need a jacket for anything but that day, why would he spend much money on it?  He launched off about how money was no object to him, he cold buy whatever he wanted and anything I wanted for that matter and what did I want (I didn't want him to buy me anything!)  Finally jacket in hand, we went back to the restaurant.

Fortunately my friend and I are so close we were both on the same page with what we thought of Dan and she had managed to arrange the table so I was sitting with her and Dan was on the other side.  (still not far enough away but having him sit at a different table just wasn't an option) dinner was actually very enjoyable with all the other guys there and after that the boys dropped us off so we could get ready for the game.  

Fortunately for me, unfortunately for my friend our football tickets were not with the boys. (for me, that was a bullet dodged!)  once the game was over we were sauntering out and of course the boys came and found us to offer us a ride home and then to a celebration party for our victory!  in the process of walking back to the Hummer we ran into several of their friends who all wanted a ride in the car so by the time we actually got there we had close to 9 people we were cramming in (remember it's a Hummer, we all fit!) the downside is that while we all fit it was still a close fit and Dan was all to eager to let me sit on his lap or anything else that would make me more "comfortable".  The talks about the private post game party kept going and my desire to jump out of the car and walk was growing just as much!  Now we had another girlfriend with us who we needed to drop off and the boys had so graciously offered to let us girls go "slip into something mroe comfortable" if we wanted to so they headed towards the apartment.  as soon as we pulled to a stop and the soors were open on teh car I noticed that the car headed the other way and stopped in line to turn was being driven by my former football player friend.  This was exactly the window of opportunity I needed!  I crawled over Dan, jumped out of the car, ran around and just as my friend was about to turn hopped in his car and away I went.  Saved from what I can only imagine they had planned for the evening!  This took all of a few seconds, it is still being debated if the Hummer had actually come to a full stop before I jumped out and was gone.  This also meant my friend and I didn't have a chance to communicate this, nor did she even know I had left.  Once she went to jump out she turned to Dan and asked him where I was, his response was "she... here... car... guy... gone..." Being pretty amazing, and also used to our spontaneous way of life, my friend nodded because of course that would be totally natural for me to jump out of a moving vehicle.  That was the last time I saw Black Dan but the story doesn't end there.  (it also provided HOURS of amusement for us!) 

About 7 months later it was our birthday (yes, not only are we BFF's who have had freakishly similar childhoods, we also have back-to-back birthdays)  we were turning 23 and could think of no better way to celebrate than by visiting her sister in Vegas.  We headed down and were having a great trip!  Of course Cole was all too excited to do something with us but our schedule was hectic and we were having a hard time making solid plans.  We gave Cole a few hours notice and he said he and his BFF would be ready to hang out and finally show us around their town.  We pulled up and went in and Cole was there but his BFF wasn't... yet.  About 15 minutes later in walked his friend.  Eric*.  There are few words to describe him but beautiful, hot, and gorgeous, all come to mind.  He, of course, also had an amazing car just to make it better (a Black Escalade with black tint) and not only that but he was cool!  he was much more like Cole, funny, charming, confident, interesting and suddenly our night was looking much better!  (turned out, he was a professional football player!)  we had a lot of fun hanging out and before too long it was time for us girls to take off.  as we were leaving Eric made a comment about his brother and what did we discover?!  Eric and Dan are BROTHERS!!  We laughed about this all the way back to where we were staying.   Later when talking to Cole, he told us he and Dan really aren't that good of friends but because he didn't know us that well he brought Dan because he's more mellow.  the way he put it, Dan is the friend you bring when you go to church and eric is the one you bring when you want to be comfortable and have fun!  I'm not sure what it says about me that I got along much better with the "fun" brother but had we would not known we never would have guessed that he and Dan lived on the same planet much less the same family!       

No comments: