It’s over.

I had only gotten the chance to interact with Matthew twice since I slipped him my phone number a week and a half ago. He was very cool toward me both times, and the other day it became obvious he was making a studied effort to avoid me. And today I found out something that changes everything.

I found out today that Matthew is only 17. While I was sitting at a table in the front window eating, I overheard him tell someone that he’s “17 and three quarters”. Sometime later, I went up to the counter to speak to him for a minute, but he was very reluctant to talk to me. I said I wanted to apologize, which I eventually did, but it was an extremely awkward moment because I couldn’t get his stupid manager to back off and let me speak to Matthew in private. I asked him if we were good again, and he said OK, but from his tone I don’t know if he really meant it. I have egg on my face, big time.

I was sure he was 20 or 21. I thought he was in college, and when he told me some weeks ago he would be here for “one more year”, I assumed it meant he already had three years of college under his belt. I guess he’s still in high school. I would not have done what I did had I realized he was that young. Guess I should’ve made a point of finding that out first.

So…. That’s that.

My instinct right now is to play it cool and keep any interactions between us strictly business. The last thing I want is for him to feel harrassed.

If he reinitiates friendly banter between us at some point, then of course I’ll go with the flow.