That creepy, sweet guy
Illustration by Faraz Aamer Khan/Dawn.com
Introductions are in order here so let’s say it is safe to remember me as Bisma from Brooklyn. I am at that age where your dreams no longer matter because you must get married or suffer at the hands of all Pakistani aunties in the whole wide world.
My family and friends, with only good intentions, are constantly setting me up with rishtas and blind dates. All the chai time and dinners have been, to say the least, an interesting experience and a few stand outfor many different reasons.
You remember college right…I definitely remember college. And sometimes you catch yourself laughing out loud, maybe just calling a college friend to recall a silly moment, maybe feel a sense of pride, and then there are the moments you recall where you cringe from complete embarrassment or even just the plain old bad decision. I had once made that plain old bad decision.
I have always been pretty responsible, outside of sad teenage rebellion – one night out late to go to a Pantera concert and cutting school for the mall, nothing major. Sometimes, I even think I made this decision on purpose – just to feel a little normal. The decision’s name…Shoaib…or as I remember him Shooby…uff.
Don’t get me wrong Shooby had his perks; tall, fit, extremely handsome and sweet.
I was a news editor by then at my college paper, trying to save it from administrative politics and lack of funding. So most of my college life I spent going to class, working for a student and community newspaper that needed constant saving, an internship with a major news network, and let’s not forget that part-time job you never want as an adult…so to say the least, I was busy.
When I met Shooby it was not something I was thinking about – I kind of just took him in to make it seem like I had a social life…yeah I know pathetic. But I was busy…yeah I know not a good enough excuse.
Anyways Shooby was someone I met at a panel discussion on campus and things were going well…he picked me up from class, walked me to the next class, left me flowers at the newspaper office, he left snacks hidden in my bag because he knew about my long hours, and he trained my features editor (he was a trainer at a gym). We never went out on a date so I guess we dated on campus. It was all going well until things began to change.
The change was slow in the beginning…he would show up at campus events that I had not even mentioned to him or randomly at the office while I was conducting interviews or ‘putting the paper to bed’ (as they say in the industry). I thought of it as a coincidence. I thought wrong.
Once my feature editor and I were working away on editing multiple articles when through the office window blinds she said saw something. I told her it’s probably my math professor who I had been avoiding for at least a couple weeks and owed an assignment or two. But she insisted that this thing in the window wasn’t my professor and was much taller and had been standing there for a while. So I gathered my common sense, lifted Bessie the mini baseball bat I got from a baseball game, and opened the office door — it was Shooby.
I asked Shooby what was going on and if everything was okay. He nodded yes and said he needed to see me really quickly. I agreed and went for a 15 minute break. I explained to him that he was welcome in the office and did not have to stand outside peeping through the space between the blinds. He said okay and smiled. And I hurried back to work.
A few hours before we would send the newspaper final edition to the printer – I used to take a pencil and go through typos and fixed all errors. One very late night at around 2 am, my red pencil, a strong cup of coffee, a little Kailash Kher, and I were going through the final copy when I felt something on my neck.
I turned and there was nothing but my eye caught the office door which was slightly open. I shook it off and went back to working but kept on looking over at the door. It felt like something was staring at me. I looked at the blinds, nothing. I looked back at the door and saw something move. I freaked a little from the inside but I have a pretty aggressive personality. So I turned down Kailash, picked up Bessie, and opened the door — looked down both ends of the hallway and nothing. Then I heard footsteps behind me, I followed them, and saw someone rush around the corner. I took the short cut and ran right into Shooby.
Shooby said that he dropped by to hello – I didn’t believe him. So I told him I had a heavy work load and would talk to him tomorrow. I called my colleagues and told them what happened. A few days later over coffee while I had another male colleague in the office I asked Shooby if he was there that night and he confessed that he had stood in the doorway to watch me while I worked.
I told him that although he was a really sweet guy — he was just too plain creepy to see anymore and basically broke up with him with a recommendation to seek therapy. I also mentioned that if I found him loitering near my office I would have him removed and press for a restraining order through the campus security officials – you know just in case.
P.S. I would like to take this opportunity to invite the reader, men and women, to share your story. Please take the following advice into consideration:
Please refrain from using bad language, ranting on women or men, and using real names and/or places out of respect for others. Other than that, I wish you “happy sharing.”
(*) Names and background information have been changed/withheld to respect person(s) involved.
The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.
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