I'm about to share a crazy story that happened to me when I was 18. At a certain time, I had an appointment really early in the morning for a test (I needed to be somewhere at around 4 am - yes! I told you it was early). I didn't drive and had no one to give me a ride, so the only way for me to get there would be by bus. However, how could I be certain that the bus would be there when I needed it? You see, in my neighborhood, buses are not punctual and are even less predictable. We just never know!
One afternoon, I was going to the mall and I decided to take the bus that would lead me to the place of my early morning test. That way, I could talk to the bus driver and explain my situation. I was sure he would be able to tell me if going to the test by bus would be possible. Happily, the bus driver was really nice. He told me he called Carlos and gave me his cellphone number, and said to me: "I will be driving on the day and time that you need. We can schedule for you to be at the bus stop at 3:30 am, and we can communicate via phone to make sure you won't miss the bus." Great!
And it really worked!
On the day of the test, I woke up offensively early. At around 3:20, my phone buzzed. Carlos sent me a message to let me know he was five minutes away from the bus stop. I ran towards it and there it was - the bus! When we got to my destination, Carlos wished me good luck and said: "You'll pass, and we'll have a barbecue to celebrate!" That was a little weird, not only because I'm a vegan (jokes aside), but because we weren't really close enough to celebrate together. I figured it was just a way of sending me good vibes and away I went.
Everything went well at the test and I was really happy that I was able to take that bus. Days had passed, and I kept receiving messages from Carlos. They were friendly texts, like "How was the test?" or "I hope you're doing fine, my friend". I didn't feel very comfortable with that, even if the texts seemed innocent. The fact is that sometimes in life we meet and help people, but it doesn't mean we are supposed to become close friends in a heartbeat! I was past that and didn't feel like becoming closer with Carlos, so I didn't really give him that much back.
That's when things got weird: one day, I got four long voice messages from Carlos. Four. Long. Voice messages. "Here we go", I thought to myself.
"You know, it's sad. In life, we trust people and people don't trust us back. We give our everything and people give nothing back. It's disappointing to consider someone a friend and realize that was a lie." This was only a piece of everything that Carlos was telling me. He was speaking low and slowly and sounded really affected by everything. That made me scared! Let's keep in mind that that was a person I had seen only twice, for like, fifteen minutes at a time. He helped me with something during his work hours, but c'mon! We were definitely not close!
I started feeling scared because he knew the bus stop where I usually waited for the bus, and who knew if I would come across him again. He sounded hurt and really upset, and I didn't want someone I barely knew feeling mad at me. Isn't that creepy? I told myself I needed to face the situation and get it over with. I decided to answer him.
In my answer, I decided I had to sound really firm and decided. I couldn't sound scared or sorry. I told him that what he was telling me wasn't aligned with reality. I was thankful for his help, but that didn't mean we had become close friends. I had never told him anything close to that and it wasn't fair for him to be disappointed. I didn't owe him anything and he didn't owe me anything. I wished him a good life and told him goodbye.
After responding to him, I decided to block the number. Also, I never took that bus again. Maybe Carlos chose someone new to be best friends with? I hope, if it happened, that it was reciprocated and true!
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