It was almost as though Steve and I were connected on an astral level. From my own previous experience, I knew that such things, as fantastical as they may sound, were actually quite possible. My friend Richard, the owner of the bookstore that was mystically inclined, once told me about a theory that even those we are rivals to are actually quite familiar to us on a higher level. I found it interesting.

I had heard that soul connections can exist between romantic partners, friends, and even family members, but this was the first time I ever heard that such a relationship was possible with a mortal enemy. Our interactions were so impactful that I had been changed forever, and I could only guess if they had the same impact on him, but I was certain that he would never forget it.

Despite the amount of time that had passed and the transformation I had endured, I was able to pick up essentially right where I left off. I was able to get my old job at Pasqual’s back, but the location on Atwood Avenue I had previously worked at had gone under already, less than a year after I left. The location I had applied to this time was located on Monroe Street. With my previous experience, it was all too easy for me to get hired, despite the owners and the managers being completely new to me. Getting retrained, and being in a new environment with new coworkers, conversely proved itself to be a challenge that would take some time to get acclimated to.

In mid-April of 2003, I was invited to a birthday party in Milwaukee for a friend of my cousin Mona. The friend of hers was a young woman of the same age as her who was an old classmate and family friend named Kelly. I had met her several times since the end of the previous year, and I developed a crush on her. She was quite unusual to me. She often sat quietly, but not in a way that conveyed a sense of obliviousness to her environment. It appeared as though she was quietly and intelligently gathering information about everything in her surroundings, which gave an aura of mystery to her, and she was equally intelligent and precise about how she would express her words without showing too much emotion OR apathy.

Mona described her as a bat because she preferred nighttime activity to ones that were more common during the daytime. I could relate to that, even though I did enjoy the sun’s warm and tender embrace once in a while. Apparently, Kelly had gathered enough information about me to know she wanted nothing too much to do with me when I expressed interest in her through a third party, and I may have been invited to her birthday party only as a courtesy.

On Kelly’s birthday eve, I showed up at the location where the party was to be held. It was at a bar called the Y-Not II Tavern, which we simply referred to as the Y-Not. I had been there once before back on Thanksgiving Eve of 2001 with some of my cousins for the first time ever, only a few months after turning 21. I remember the bar, though not appearing much different than most other bars, having a sense of liveliness and character to it. It certainly had a name that was creative and unique, and seemed to be reflected in the atmosphere. I also remember one of my relatives ordering too many pitchers too close to bar time and having to step up and become Mr. Slam (no relation to Bruno from Jamaica) for about a half hour so all of that alcohol didn’t go to waste. Someone else was the designated driver, and I was the designated drinker. Some occasions, though nothing particularly significant may have occurred, can still be memorable because of our emotional connection to them, and possibly other influences that are harder to explain, almost like magic. Whatever that magic was, it seemed to remain even a year and a half later.

Kelly reserved an entire section of the Y-Not that was attached to the main area by a small staircase leading down. With the pink fluorescent lights on the wall faintly illuminating the darkness of the room, it helped set an otherworldly tone to the evening that was influenced further by the distortion of reality that alcohol can invoke.

Guests arrived in groups and pairs, many of whom I had met before, and some I knew better than the rest after spending many evenings hanging out with them in Milwaukee previously. It was enjoyable chatting with everyone, but my sense of adventure led me out into the main bar area. I had always been a fan of playing pool, and it seemed to be a good way of starting things off, so naturally I went to the pool table to challenge whoever was playing. There was a pair of young women who also appeared to be in their early 20’s playing pool. In my opinion, one of them was noticeably more attractive than the other, and she wasn’t the typical person I was used to seeing playing pool at a bar. Not that women never played pool, but most of the time when I encountered people at the bar playing pool, it was usually men.

The one I thought was most attractive introduced herself as Jen, and she told me that tonight was also her birthday. I found that most interesting. Astrologically it was Aries season. Kelly didn’t fit the stereotypical Aries at all. Aries are known for being bold, assertive, blunt, and sometimes egotistical. Kelly appeared to be the complete opposite, or she may have simply held those traits in reserve under a clever mask. Jen appeared to exhibit more of the stereotypical Aries traits, however. She appeared to be very confident despite being slim and petite, but not in a way that was offensive to me at all. In fact, I found her charming. She seemed to have the sassiness and the charm in equal measure so neither one outweighed the other. As her friend let me know, she would have no problem letting me know when something I did wasn’t acceptable either.

To my surprise, while we were playing pool, Jen, as she was taking her shot, said to me, “You know what screws like a tiger and winks?” and then winked at me. I was placed in sort of a conundrum. On one side, there was my family, friends, and Kelly, whom I had a crush on as I mentioned, but then there was someone who wasn’t behaving indifferently at all to me. Her boldness didn’t intimidate me, but it did make me have to take a step back and wonder what was going on since most women I meet are not so assertive.

I enjoyed playing pool with Jen, running back and forth between the pool table and the party downstairs several times, and In the end, my loyalty to my family, friends, and Kelly won over the situation. As we all prepared to leave, I said goodbye to Jen. We both gave each other a hug and kiss on the cheek, and I was grateful that she didn’t take my lack of reciprocation to her not so subtle passes at me as a reason to become resentful towards me.

Perhaps she understood that I appreciated her company but couldn’t offer anything more than that based on the amount of care I showed towards her during the evening. I left the Y-Not feeling that there was something significant about her, and our encounter, but I wasn’t sure what.

Mona arranged it so that I would be giving Kelly and some of her friends a ride home. After doing who knows how many birthday shots, Kelly was a bit drunk, and her usual quiet and reserved nature began to reveal something completely contrary underneath. When we got to my old blue Toyota Tercel, she had a very unanticipated reaction to it.

“What??? We gotta ride in this thing??” she said as she began kicking my car’ tire.

That car carried me all the way down to the Keys and back and helped me escape the carjackers in Florida. She obviously didn’t understand how precious it was to me and judged it simply by its appearance, just as she had done with me. Whatever it was I felt for her began to disappear rapidly.

Several months had passed since Kelly’s birthday party. One night I was watching an old show called “Elimidate.” I had always found dating shows to be quite humorous. It’s hard to feel sorry for the contestants on those shows because they know what they’re getting into, assuming they’ve previously watched them before.

On this night, as I was watching Elimidate, they had announced that their location for this episode was in Chicago. Then came the opening introductions. To my surprise, the first woman introduced who would have the chance to rise to the top and win a date with the male contestant was none other than Jen! I thought I would never see her again, but she had one last appearance to make in my life, it seemed.

I knew that Jen was bold and assertive, but during our brief encounter at the Y-Not, I didn’t have a chance to see the full extent of it. While watching her on T.V., I had that chance. Jen unleashed a barrage of verbal attacks on the other women that she was competing with and put them all in a position to where they couldn’t think of a single retort, solidifying herself as the alpha female of the group.

On another astrological note, Aries is known for being first. Prominent athletes often have significant Aries placements in their horoscopes. Jackie Robinson, Michael Jordan, and Tiger Woods are all great examples of athletes born with the Sun in Aries. The ruler of Aries is the planet Mars, the Roman god of War, also symbolic of energy and associated with the color red and many things colored red, including the blood.