Divine Intervention

My first night back on 3rd was one of the best. I was so happy to be back. But they forgot to put me on the schedule, so they had to look for something for me to do. While waiting to ask Renee what to do, I waltzed by TJ and he said,

"Get to work!"
"I can't, I'm not on the schedule. That means I get to go home."
"Ten bucks says you'll be back over here packing for me."
(Yeah, so I include quotes. They may not be direct, but they're as close as I can remember and they help me get it all out better, so don't judge me. lol)

I hoped so. Lo and behold, he only had one packer, Melissa, and he needed someone else. So I got to take the cups off the chute and pack them in boxes. Again, it was the same old thing. I stood there quietly packing boxes while Melissa and TJ chatted. They're pretty good friends, and Melissa flirts like a fiend with everyone, so I kind of got a bit jealous here. But then they got a little carried away with their conversation and I had to go over and make up some of my own boxes. Which wasn't a bid deal at all. I didn't mind. I just thought it was funny to see him get all embarrassed because he was supposed to make me boxes. He's also supposed to put bags in the boxes to line them, but he sucks at it and it's so funny because he gets so mad and frustrated when they won't stay in the box that all you can do is laugh.

He asked me why I came back and I told him about my epilepsy and he said that he has it too. Common bond! The little voice in my head was going off. I'm going to tell you right now that most of our conversations revolved around him. I didn't mind. I bet he doesn't even know how many sisters I have or what my major in school is. We talked about the time he spent living in Georgia and how he worked for the sheriff's department down there. He told me about how he had to be tazed and sprayed in the face with pepper spray as part of his training. OUCH!

While he lived down there, he played the bass guitar in a rock band called Six Dreams Deep. Which I just thought was the coolest thing ever. Especially since that's what I've been wanting to learn for a few years now. They played local shows all over the place down there and even Warped Tour. He got to play with Joan Jett and he was so excited to tell me about it. His eyes lit up when he talked about his band and everything they did.

Later that night I was talking to another printer and TJ's one good friend at work, Jason. He said that I should ask TJ for his number because apparently people from work hung out all the time on weekends and they were going to be at TJ's house that coming weekend. I was in the middle of telling him "no way, Jose" when speak of the devil, TJ comes walking over. Jason tells him that he should give me his number and I walked away because I didn't want TJ to feel obligated to give it to me because I was standing right there. I went back to my work station and TJ came over.

"You left. I was going to give you my number, but you ran away."
He held out a piece of scrap cardboard with his name and number scrawled on it.
(Here's where I turned into my frustrating, dramatic emo self. I do that.)
"I don't want you to give it to me out of charity."
"It's not. I want to. Here, do whatever you want with it."

So I texted him. And he texted back.