"The Story of Us - part 2"

So I had decided that I would go to Ju Ueno's house on the first weekend of August 2006. As I've said, she lived in sjc and several other people studying at Unicamp (State University of Campinas) lived in sjc and returned to their parents' house on the weekends. The arrangements of rides is the most used for them because it's the most convenient and cheaper than buses (in Brazil there are a lot of comfortable buses that travel between cities, states, etc). Traveling alone by car ends up being very expensive because of the high price of gasoline and the price of toll in Brazil (you can never skip tolls in Brazil, and believe it or not, gas price in Brazil is much worse than in the US).

Also, another friend of mine, Claudia - who was also studying civil eng, was from sjc and I planned to return to Campinas in the same way that she would also return. So we had agreed that Claudia would find a ride for us two on Sunday night. Finally, Sunday arrived and Claudia said she couldn't find a ride with anybody (on the email listing for rides) and that "the thing" was getting tough. Another friend of Ju Ueno, Nathalie, from sjc who was studying biology at Unicamp, also was ride-less and she told us that there were no more vacancies in the bus for all that afternoon and night. Note that all of these misfortunes was not very common at all.

Wow, who knows me can tell that I was getting pretty desperate, by then. (I'm super nerd! lol) Imagine myself not getting back on time for college? And my mom was not going to like this AT ALL! lol Then, Ju remembered of her friend (yes, Daniel) who was doing his master in biology at Unicamp, who was supposed to have returned from Greece on the morning of that Sunday or sat night. Parentheses: Dan used to spend the entire months of July in some other country as a camp counselor for children through CISV and on that month of July/06 he had gone to Greece (pretty boring, huh?).

I still remember Ju trying to convince me that it would be all right because even though he had just returned from Greece, Dan would probably drive to Campinas on that same night because he was late on his master and his professor was already getting angry he had traveled the whole month of July.

Well, so I said: "ok, so call him and check if he will really return to Campinas tonight or not." Then Ju called and spoke to his sister, Tati, bc Dan was sleeping (resting from the flight journey and I think also from the camp kids), and her sister also said she thought he really would go back to Campinas on that night. So it was agreed that Dan would call Ju back, to arrange things better, when he wake up. We still needed to be sure that there was enough space in the car for 3 (Claudia, Nathalie and I), to set up a time, and a place to pick us up.

So Ju started telling me a little about him. She said he was also Japanese. (I forgot to mention but Ju is a mix of Japanese and - let's say - Brazilian!) She told me he loves to play soccer, that he was super nice, that he had many cool stories to tell about the camps, etc. Oh, she also said he was kinda pricey and always charged $15 for those who would take a ride with him, while most still charged $10-12 reais (brazilian currency)! LOL. Oh, that he does not drink but she said that sometimes he drives a little over the speed limit. Anyway, I do not remember how nor why but she also mentioned that he was single at that time! But seriously, nothing important, she was only giving me information about the person that would give me a ride home because sometimes it's only natural to concern and wonder if the person who is taking you home is crazy or not!

So I think he called Ju back to confirm that his car was empty and that he could give us three a ride and that he would meet everyone at Ju's house. Then I guess he asked to speak with Ramon (Ju's brother, who also goes to CISV). Okay, so I remember that Ju and I were seated around her dining table eating Lindt chocolates and, suddenly, Dan appears. Like, at her dining room! I didn't even noticed the door bell ringing or somebody opening the door for him but that might be just because my memory is failing me now!

Ju: "Oh, that's Daniel who will give you a ride. O, I forgot to mention before but he's Rodrigo's cousin, you know, the one who lives in the same building of your friend Claudia."

Pause! hehe Seriously, I don't know why but I was not expecting a guy like him. Well, you always kinda hope the guy you are about to meet is somehow handsome, charming, but you also know these things never really happen! I don't know, but he was well tanned, lean face, nice haircut, with gel spike bangs, pretty nose, eye wide open (for a japanese, I mean!) and he looked peculiarly attentive. Anyway, I found him handsome, immediately! And I also found him intriguing to me, don't know why! And yet Ju just said he was a cousin of a person that I know who is also, in fact, best friend of a friend of mine from my college and I kinda thought that was a big coincidence, huh?

Then it started:

Me: "Are you Rodrigo's cousin?" - Super excited about the coincidence.

Him: "Yeah" and he was already leaving the room without even giving me too much attention or anything and he simply acted like if there was no coincidence at all! A person would care if a stranger had just said he/she knew one of his/her close relatives, like a cousin, right?

Well, while he was leaving the room and me astonished, Ju managed to shout him asking how old he was (so I could listen from him that he was 26 years old - I was 20) and I almost fell off the chair! I thought, "Wow, six years older and he really doesn't look like it at all!" So I was getting even more intrigued about him! Handsome AND single, older but with a younger face (I always liked guys with younger faces!) And... HE WAS NOT GIVING ME ANY ATTENTION AT ALL. Seriously, it's not like I think I'm unquestionably pretty, but in general guys are all smiling and very friendly with any girl who is okay looking and single, right?! Even more single guys! (Maybe it was because of Netta from Israel - another camp counselor who Dan'd had a crush on during the camp. This "Netta thing" is actually a funny story.)

Then Dan left the room to call Ramon and I guess while he was waiting for Ramon to come down he returned to the dining room, sat on a chair and asked for a Lindt chocolate to eat. So I took the chance take one more chocolate myself (it was staring at me!!) and it seems I said something somehow funny about it because he ended up laughing. (Yay, a point for me! Made him laugh!)

If you ask Dan about it he will say that it was all part of his plan to get my attention (it's a lie, he had no plan at all!), That in order to make a girl fancy you, u should always be snobbish with her! Well, jokes or not aside, he finally admits he hated being the kind of guy who lifts up the ego of one girl who might think too much of herself and, apparently, that was my case. And besides, I had (have) a snobbish face myself, and he did not like that kind of people so he was really not interested in me and he was not willing to give me any kind of attention!

Okay, so he went out the room again to meet with Ramon and then Ju and I left the house to do something else I don't record right now. I also found out that before giving us a ride, Daniel would still play soccer late that afternoon and Ju was already warning me that she thought he would not even take a shower after playing soccer 'cause he'd probably be late. (Look at that!!! He would probably be late and would not take a bath!) And as a final detail, he had just called Ju or her mobile to tell that he would not pick us up at her house anymore, but that he would meet everybody at the "Colinas" mall. That was it! "Really, was that too hard to pick us up at Ju's house? It was super close to the mall! This guy must be joking, right?" I got mad at him!

And end of the second part!