That first call, I mean, wow, it was a little nerve-wracking. I remember distinctly both of us commenting that it was kind of weird to finally speak over the phone. Real voices. Real people. However, once we got over the initial weirdness and were able to make fun of it a little the conversation flowed as easily as it had via Facebook messaging.
Quite frankly, her voice didn't match her picture. She had a real sultry English accent. I don't know Joss Stone (the singer), but that's the first thing that comes to mind when I try to describe what it sounded like. A little bit New York though too, which I attribute to her days in high school. So what did we talk about that first call you ask. All the same stuff you would probably talk about on a first date. Family, friends, jobs. She referred to her grandfather as her "grandpapa", like all english-like with an little extra mustard (Grey Poupon no doubt) on one of the "pa"'s so it sounded like "Graahnd-pa-pa". I'd been listening to the screeching Long Island JAPS for the prior year in business school and also had a healthy dose of that Michigander flavor....e.g. "cayretts" for carrots and so on. So British, to me, at least at the time, was exotic. Now, not even remotely appealing. But we're not there yet.
The first call went frighteningly well. I remember hanging up and literally being like, Jesus Christ, I just spoke to this girl for like 20 minutes about absolute nothing and absolutely everything. Instead of just picking up and calling the next day too I was a bit cautious. I remember the way she bristled at a potential meeting the week before, so like most things in my life, I was going to take it slowly. Fortunately for me Ashley had similar intentions. I got home the next night (June 17th ) to this facebook message..."Lakers or Celtics?". If you came home to this message, don't even tell me that it wouldn't be at least a little exciting. Ashley wanted to debate basketball with me and I gladly took the bait. Below is the brief facebook message chat we had that evening. Again, I cringe with mild embarrassment.
John Finger June 17, 2008 at 10:10pm
Are you going to tell me that Kobe has gorgeous eyes?
Haha, no. But that ring he gave his wife after he cheated... GORGEOUS!
John Finger June 17, 2008 at 10:20pm
Yes, that was one huge and expensive "I'm Sorry". You care to talk, like, for real?
Haha, sure - how about I call you in 15 after I walk Marls?
(though add on 5 to the 15 in order to peel him away from the wall...)
(though add on 5 to the 15 in order to peel him away from the wall...)
John Finger June 17, 2008 at 10:25pm
Yeah, let him get his aggression out in the fresh air. Speak to you in a bit.
Point of information, Marls, short for Marley was her dog, and Marley apparently had this weird infatuation with running into walls.
Anyway, while I was sure that the night before was a fluke, being that conversation was so easy, the conversation that night trumped the first one by leaps and bounds. Wait, what's that? Krista Marks update? I'm glad you asked.
Well...Krista was all over this as you could imagine. Her surreptitious sneaking and setting up seemed to be working out. She sent me a facebook message later that same night mentioning how excited she was and remarking how strange yet cool Ashley's "Americano/Brit" accent was. Remember now, Ashley doesn't know I'm talking with Krista, but Krista and Ashley are roommates, so if I'm talking to Ashley then Krista knows about it. As Facebook would say "It's Complicated". My response (direct quote) "Yeah, it's weird because you see someone's pic on facebook and you try to associate some voice with it, and then when you actually hear it and it isn't what you expected it is kind of weird. Truthfully, I don't mind setups. I am very picky as well, and i think that's the only way to be."
While still slightly weird, it was a lot of fun talking to Ashley York, and over the next week we started logging some minutes on the phone. We talked about everything from Mark Ronson mash-ups to cioppino at Dave's in Montauk, where her folks had a house. After a long day of talking commodities and cap and trade at work it was nice knowing that I'd be able to come home, relax, and just shoot the shit with someone who seemingly spoke my language. I learned that she was on the outs at Elle Magazine. She was feeling strung along a little bit because of the recent departure of Nina Garcia and the subsequent re-org taking place within the company. She'd written, or should I say, contributed to a piece on Hillary Clinton that seemed like an excellent and intellectual assignment, but she said those days of highbrow writing were over. She was moving onto "fashion events" which she deemed "lowbrow / despicable". At that point I would've put our interactions at "Lowbrow/brilliant". Every night, there was cupid shooting a flaming arrow of incredulity through my heart. I kept thinking to myself, who the hell is this breath of fresh air, and how much longer am I going to have to spend losing my voice on the phone before I can meet her.
Let me just tell you this straight up, I was logging damn near close to one hour sessions with Ashley on the phone. You ask me what on God's green earth we talked about, and I can tell you matter of factly that I simply. Don't. Know. But I knew that my phone would be warm and the battery depleted after these calls.
Meanwhile, back on planet Earth, I'd probably mentioned this whole situation to a handful of people. Probably no fewer than three but no more than five. In typical FingerTheBlog fashion, if I was going to inevitably fuck this up, I'd do so under the cover of darkness, without so much as a peep. So eventually I pulled up my britches and I asked Ashley out for a drink, but as I suspected, she was going to be busy with events, this time in Miami.
She went to Miami at the end of June for a few days. It was an Elle event. Star-studded affair. Red carpet. Blah blah. I spoke with her every night after work and texted with her during the day. At night I remember her at one point asking me to hold on, as there was a knock at her door. I heard her then begin to speak Italian with interspersed French. She was coordinating something or another for an important client or her boss, and I remember her getting back on the phone and I was like, "um, how many languages do you speak", and she said five. Impressive. Equally slash more impressive was a story she told me about getting her towel caught in the door jam and basically having to run down the hall to the phone stark naked to call the front desk to send someone up to let her in. Now, while I haven't sent you pictures of this young lady (and I will, so stay tuned), she had upped her flirtatiousness over the week and half. Conversations about Hillary Clinton and "It Takes a Village" this was not. In full disclosure, all these conversations were PG-13, but there were undertones. Let that simmer.
I really was excited when she came back to NYC the next week, and immediately asked her out. In fact, if I remember correctly I suggested that we go and walk Marley in the park. First meeting, public space, lots of people around...you know, somewhere where either of us could scream bloody murder in case shit got weird. But much to my dismay Ashley found excuse after excuse to blow me off. One time it was some MoMA event in Brooklyn. Another time it was a bad day at work. Then an impromptu trip to Memphis for 2 days for something or another. For someone about to be fired, or so she thought, Elle was certainly squeezing every last ounce of worth out of her, and it sounded like she was super frustrated. I didn't push too hard because even though we never met up we were still talking on the phone. Every night. One hour plus conversations. Yes, you read that correctly. Again, please don't even bother asking.
Krista again, continues to pry. We have the following exchange on July 2nd, in response to an awkwardly written note from her to me about "taking it to the next level". Enjoy...
John Finger July 2, 2008 at 12:15am
fyi, spoke to her tonight. She's quite the traveler and impossible to track down. Prob not going to see her this weekend because she's going to wimbledon.
Krista Marks July 2, 2008 at 3:50pm
LOL Well I talked to her about u today and she said u two talk a lot. She thinks ur really sweet. But when i asked if there is more she said that there wasn't/ That u two only talk on the phone but there isnt any indication of u liking her like that, etc!! LOL HELLOO!!!!!!! Of course she was vague like she awlays is.
Anyways how r things?
John Finger July 2, 2008 at 8:25pm
Things are okay on this end. But more importantly, she said that there wasn't any inkling of anything more than just being friends? That sucks for me. last night I asked if maybe we could get together on Friday, but I didn't really get a solid answer. Is she being vague or is she just not into it?
Krista Marks July 2, 2008 at 9:02pm
U have to get her giddy and excited aobut u. Just how she makes u feel (That u miss her and want to talk to her) u have to make her feel the same! KEEP THAT HOT BOD!!! LOL
Mind you, I'm not LOL-ing so much because Ashley has more or less given me a 'thanks but no thanks' at every turn. So we were coming up on July 4th weekend and I call Ashley and she sounds horrible. She's going to Wimbledon this coming weekend, so how upset could she really be? Unfortunately, the other shoe had dropped. She had finally been fired. While inevitable, apparently, I guess the reality of being unemployed in what at the time was the beginning of the end of the economy/world was a lot for her to deal with. She was going to head to Montauk and wallow in her misery with her family and then head to Wimbledon. I commiserated and suggested that we meet up for tennis that weekend. She, having played varsity for a year at Georgetown, would surely make for a enjoyable hitting partner and I knew I'd be able to cheer her up. And for the first time she didn't have an excuse. In fact she was kind of was into it. You know who wasn't into it though? The man upstairs. The weather forecast was dicey. Rain. Rain. Possibly some more rain. That Friday I packed up my gear and caught a ride with Eric and Chelsea out the beach. I remember that car ride well, because in one hand I held their dog Harley and in the other I texted with Ashley the whole drive out.
When I finally got out to East Hampton I called Ashley to confirm we had a date the next day. She was apprehensive, with the weather forecast being so questionable, and perhaps a bit nervous. I know I was. That night, and I cross my heart on this, we spoke for like two hours. Details aren't important, but it was an excellent (and clean) phone call, and there was no way we weren't going to meet up the next day for tennis. Here were the details:
Where: Sportime Tennis, Abraham's Path, East Hampton
What: TennisWho: John Finger and Ashley York
When: 10:30am
Why: Because Facebook willed it
The directions from her place to tennis were easy. In fact, easy is a gross understatement.
Go west on 27. Make a right at Abraham's Path. Sportime was on the left half mile in. Fin.
I went to bed with a smile on my face that night, although my sister wanted to strangle me because I'd been on the phone forever. Sorry.
In less than 12 hours I was going to finally meet Ashley York...and have my entire world turned absolutely upside down.
Stay tuned.
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