I ain't got nothing for Valentine's day as this year I feel very sour about it, mostly because of some tragic events that happened to me almost two years ago, so I don't even want to acknowledge this is a day where I feel the pressure of being alone - "But it is also about friends!" Oh yeah? Then why is there a separate friends day aside from Valentine's day, huh???? Anyway. As I don't have a single art thing I might as well tell this dumb story I lived.
You guys know I'm a nerd right? And the most games I'm passioned about are Trading card games, I won't bother you about the origins of my love for them, but in 2015 I was into Magic: The Gathering, and then in 2017 I kinda stopped playing for economic reasons. Years later, in 2019, I went to a Magic: The Gathering Open House event, you know, those tournament events for new and returning players to get together, play a "begginner's deck" and have fun while learning, I have played Magic before and I had a few decks but I have never gone to those events, and it's been a hot while since I had a match, aside from some random casual matches in MTG Arena; back then Arena was in beta phase only, so it was rough and kind of unfun (And it still is! :D), so this was an opportunity to get back into it.
I went to the TCG shop and the scene was so comedic and stereotypical: a long ass table filled with neckbeard dudes and a single girl. The tournament started once the rules of the game were explained, I met cool people, I even gave some career advice to a guy who wanted to go to the same college I was in, hope the guy is okay. Since I had an advantage, in a way, I kept winning and made it to finals, my last opponent was none other than that only girl herself, the owner of the store himself has said that this is like, a prophecy, every time there's a tournament, there's always a girl who is finalist and most of the time, they win.
So I sit in front of her, I had a black/green deck, she had what I believe was a white/red deck, with angels I think, and we had some very cool and fun chitchat, it was the most fluid and normal conversation I have ever had with a *inhales* femoid /j. We had a lot in common, she also played in MTG arena, she was also in college, liked Metal music, played mostly angels in MTG and loved to watch those "snobby" animes like Bakemonogatari and Mushishi like I do, fuck she even watched Mnemosyne: Daughter of Rin, I only know TWO people who have watched it and they are my even more snobbish friends, we had a lot in common and we became comfortable with each other way too quickly, but I guess I got my guard down as she beat me and I got second place, I still won a Booster pack, tho First place got three packs and second and third one; I think it was a Throne of Eldraine pack? I don't remember.
After that, the events that transpired felt almost dream like, like taken directly from a stupid romcom movie and to this day I question if what happened was real, so the owner of the store wanted to take a photo with the three finalists to post it on their socials, I was in the middle with other guy on my left and her on the right, that girl got way too close to me and proceeded to hug my arm, to this day I don't know if she was trying to be cute or friendly or she did it and then think "No, this is weird", but she did it, then I looked at her (I could feel my cheeks going red hot) and she just let go of me without looking at me and waved at the camera, if you see the photo I look very awkward as I didn't know what to do aside from making a faint smile while showing my booster pack, you could say I was flustered.
After talking with some folks and thanking the shop owner, before leaving she approached me and asked me for my phone number, duuuuuuuude this was so weird for me, I have always heard about people asking for someone's phone number but I thought this was just a myth invented by good looking people, never in a million years I'd thought a girl would ask me for my phone number and saying she wanted to keep in touch and maybe play MTG Arena sometime, To be honest with y'all I only had the base decks you get in the game but GOD I would have bought like $200 usd worth of packs just to flex to her that I had some cool decks in the game. I gave her my number and I asked for hers and, well, I left the tournament with a girl's number and a Booster pack, best day of my life! I was in cloud nine to the point I even took the wrong bus home and I had to take a taxi cab as I was in an unknown neighborhood, haha. I even messaged the boys about it, and they were all happy for me.
After that amazing day, I decided to message her and tell her it was me and... I only got a hi... And nothing else... I wanted to give her a call but that would have been creepy... I guess she lost her phone? Changed her number? Or something? Cuz I never got any response afterwards and couldn't see if she was online. And... That's it, I guess. Would have been nice to get to know her more, maybe play some Arena matches. Yeah. I now play the Pokémon TCG anyway.
