A practical joke

Last night we had some friends over for a couple of games of Settlers. It was a good time and through twists and turns of the conversation Noah and I suddenly remembered it: the ultimate practical joke. Well, maybe not the ultimate, but it was pretty funny at the time.

Back in college we were sort of dating. Just like in middle school when we were sort of interested in each other, just like in high school when we were somewhat together (almost). But at this particular time in college we were practically engaged. Kind of. Anyway, you get the picture. It was ambiguous. But all of that goofy stuff aside, we were friends. Good friends. Together all of the time friends (well, except for when I was studying, sleeping or in class. Noah only did 1/2 of any of those activities, so he did have more free time.)

I was a nursing major and Noah was a physics geek who lived primarily in the physics lab. Practically speaking, people from those 2 worlds in our college did not have much chance to collide. I was a math tutor though. And math people and physics people do rub shoulders frequently. Now, to be honest, I was a Math for the 21st Century tutor. You know, the class in every liberal college that trys to teach people why gambling is a bad idea and what interest really is. The one thing I remember about the class, taught by the assistant football coach, was that the intstructer always stopped pumping gas when the cost ended in a "7". That way he would know if someone unauthorized was using his credit card. Anyway, I digress.

One day I was talking with Noah before I went into Math lab to work my shift. I entered the room and Seth, one of the other math tutors who also happened to be involved in the physics department, bounded over to talk to me. (I do literally mean bounded. He also wore visors.) "So", he said, " Do you have a boyfriend?" And that is when I got an idea. A wonderful, awful idea. (name that book!).


"Do you want me to set you up with someone?" he asked.

"Maybe. Did you see that guy I was talking to before I came in? Well, he is in my reformations class and he seems really cool. I'd love to go out with him. Do you know him?"

"I DO know him! His name is Noah. He hangs out in the physics department. I totally (he was a surfer, and he did say totally) think I could get you guys together on a date or something." Seth was getting excited. "I will look into it".

Soon after that Seth approached Noah, who had been clued in to all of this. "Hey Noah, there is a girl that is interested in you. Her name is Julie, she is in your reformations class, she has red hair and she is a math TA. Do you know who she is?!"

Noah said, "Yeah, I may know who she is. She is cute. Yeah, that would be cool. Maybe Friday night?" (note, we already had plans together that night).

So Seth (who we didn't actually feel too sorry for because everyone else in the school knew we were together) finished up the details and we were all set for our "blind" date.

After the fact we had to tell him about the date and how we were going to be going out again. He was so proud of himself for setting us up and it actually working! That is when we started to feel a little bad. We did eventually tell him, quite a while after the fact, and he was kind of confused. We really had him fooled. Oh well.