December
Shortly after arriving at my mom’s in LA, I booked my flights to New York (Dec 29) and Portugal (Jan 7). But then, it turned out that Goodtime Guy was coming out west for work and would be in LA for two non-consecutive nights while I was there. His trip cut mine perfectly in half, so we only went ~12 days without seeing each other. When he got to LA, I took him out for Mexican food and then slept over at his hotel, and in the morning we had breakfast with his coworker. When he came back into town, we had a double date with some friends of his—who were not shy about PDA—before having another fun hotel sleepover. (In case you’re wondering, I told my mom that “my friend [name redacted]” was in town. I don’t know what she thought—or if she even cared—about me spending nights with a “friend.”) Before he left, we decided that I would indeed stay with him (as opposed to my friend’s empty apartment) during my upcoming 8-day layover.
January
Goodtime Guy and his roommate threw a spectacular New Year’s Eve party, and I met his sister. We all danced, wore wigs, and I stayed up until 3:30am! The next few days were largely uneventful, until I had a meltdown on the morning of Jan 4th. I was freaking out about my trip and all the uncertainty that came with it. As I wept, he consoled me and reassured me that everything would be fine; he praised my bravery and encouraged me to feel excited about my adventure. He legitimately made me feel better, and I could no longer ignore The Feeling that had been slowly growing over the past couple of weeks. It was extremely bad timing, but for the sake of authenticity, I felt I had to be honest…