Progress Incognito

Written on 1/18/2026 about the events of January 18-23 2023

My plan to get closer to her while she had her long-distance boyfriend generally worked pretty well. We texted back and forth more, sharing songs and such; and on the 18th she specifically texted me alone to ask if she should come to the Bachelor night. This made me feel good. My notes don’t show this, but I believe that by this time I was also bringing dinner for her to the Bachelor; like a Mass Ave Sub from Pemby’s or something. I could tell she liked this; she felt cared for. At one point, she bent over to steal a bite of my sandwich. This made me feel more certain that I was getting somewhere, romantically; it revealed a level of comfort and familiarity with me that was really great.

On the 22nd, the four of us hung out at Elinour’s; we did the Rice Purity Test together, a classic turning point in group formation. Before this point our conversations between the four of us had been a bit chaste, but with the dam broken by the purity test, we became much more open. By the end of the night we were fairly drunk, and ended up playing strip mario kart (haha); most of us ended up naked, but concealed beneath blankets.

For some contrived reason, Holly ended up back at mine at the end of the night; I think she could park her car at mine overnight or something. We ended up talking for a couple of hours at my kitchen table; much of it was her sharing much of her story (and a little trauma as well). I wrote this in my journal:

Jan 22, 2023: ”… Games with friends. Ended up playing strip Mario Kart. H ended up back at mine because she could leave her car here. We talked for hours. She dumped a lot on me, but she’s sweet. Was nice.”

Jan 23, 2023: “Recovery from drinking. More in love than I was yesterday.”