the one where i am playing with fire

oh goodness. i haven't spent much time talking about the Ex. some of you know him and were around when we were dating (college and then some). the Ex and i dated from november of my first year of college until spring of my senior year. we officially broke up but then continued to travel together, speak daily, etc until august of 2006. that was when we REALLY stopped acting like we were in a relationship. the Ex had met someone new and was going to give it a go with her. as for me, i was in my 3L year at UVA and ready to party! so we toned things way back and proceeded to just be friends. of course, like anything else, there have been complications along the way. the Ex and i were extremely close when we dated. we spent lots of time with each others families and i loved his family, he loved mine and our respective families loved each other (which, if you know my dad says a LOT). the Ex was in a very bad car accident the summer of 2003 and afterwards, i essentially moved into his apartment for a month while he recovered. it was a big deal for me at the time to tell my father that i was moving in with my boyfriend. but what was amazing was that my dad didn't say a word. in fact, after the Ex and i broke up and he moved back to california, my dad actually called him and offered to buy him a plane ticket to fly to atlanta for my college graduation. i am still amazed by how much my dad liked the Ex. not because the Ex wasn't a great man, but because my dad is TOUGH! 

anyway, after the Ex and i were finally really truly done, it was complicated still. there were still all these feelings but each of us moved on to other people. i finished law school, moved to alabama, dated some loser for awhile and then the Banker. the Ex moved back to atlanta, continued dating that same girl and eventually asked her to marry him. i thought it was going to be crazy difficult to hear that the Ex was engaged, but it was okay. of course, i think i'll feel much differently when he actually gets married (august) but for now i'm okay.

but here's the thing. the Ex and i both want to maintain a friendship. so although we don't talk on the phone, we email and text regularly. we had lunch once this past summer when i was in atlanta and it was nice. he didn't tell his fiance, which i thought was weird, but hey, not my place. then the weekend of the SEC championship i was in atlanta to celebrate the game (ugh, even though the game didn't turn out like i wanted...still ROLL TIDE!) and told him i was in town. he drove across town to meet me at the bar where i was watching the game, and  when he finally got there he asked about the Banker. i told him that the Banker and i weren't dating anymore and he instantly became uncomfortable and said that he couldn't stay because i was drunk (may or may not have been true) and i was single. so that was a bit weird, but again, he's engaged, i am single...i understand that he needs to do what he needs to do. 

so anyway, since then we've been texting some and emailing more. in fact, over the past week or so, we've been emailing quite a bit. most of it is pretty innocuous normal stuff. but occasionally, there will be a flirtatious line here or there. and i know that he doesn't tell his fiance that we still communicate and i'm just starting to feel like this is dangerous ground. even though everything has been above board, i just have a feeling...

i can't explain it, but i feel like something is happening. i know that doesn't make any sense, but its how i feel. 

in other possibly poor decisions, the Banker and i are having dinner this evening. i know for a fact that this dinner is playing with fire. if he says the wrong thing, i have no doubt that i will tell him every single negative thing i think about him. and i really don't want to do that. i want to have a nice, reasonably calm dinner and then be done. goodness. i have got to get it together.

but rest assured about one thing -- i will look amazing this evening. the Banker will be suffering :)