It's easier to be around Tristyn. I still feel in large part like we're dating, but we're seeing each other less. I get to flirt with her again. That's a lot of fun. This break is feeling a lot like the time before we started dating. The time before we shared a kiss after a party. The time before we went to the Pizza Cafe and split a pizza and talked about our families. It feels like the time we stayed up all night poking each other and giggling. It feels like the night she stuck a post-it note to my back that said, "I'm cute only when I breathe."

That note is stuck to my computer right now. I can look at it and smile and think of her. There's nothing ugly about it. It's her and it's me.

This is sorta how we started dating:
Tristyn and I were designated drivers at a party at The Annex. I had my tape recorder and we flirted a wee bit. That was actually the night I decided it might be worth while to flirt with her.

Then she came to one of our pre-screening-sign-up fiestas. We flirted a lot that night. Poked each other with pillows and fingers and laughed and sat near each other and tried to make like it wasn't a big deal we were close. 'Oh yeah,' we tried to say through body language, 'this is how I behave with all my friends.'

Then there were other parties, always flirting. It was a lot of fun. One night at Max and Derek's she drew a "Belly Button Monster" on her stomach with a sharpie. It was terrifyingly endearing. That's the night of the post-it note. That's the night I drove her home and walked her up to her apartment. Jeremy came up, too. He said he, "had to use the bathroom." So he rushed off to do that and Tristyn and I hung out in her foyer area and she said to me she 'quite fancied' me. And then she asked what we should do next.

And I kissed her.

I don't think we arranged for a date that night, but it wasn't too long after that we went to the Pizza Cafe.

By and by Jeremy came out and we went our separate ways, grinning all the while.

Ha! I love her. I still do.