Stranger Than Fiction

Have you ever had an experience that made you feel like you just
stepped into a movie script? I had one the other day in my parent’s
storage room.

Backstory

One of the reviewers of the play I directed surmised by my having the
same last name as my brother (the playwright) that I was single. He
put a line into the review pretty much asking for my number. Which
was funny because he didn’t even know what I looked like—he was
apparently just mesmerized by my amazing directorial abilities!
My brother didn’t know him very well and wasn’t sure he was my type
anyway, so feeling protective of me, he put him off.

Fast-forward several months.

I stopped by my parent's house to get something out of storage. My
brother (who lives in their basement) was having a big game night
with all of his theater friends. I stopped for a second to talk to
some people I knew and noticed another guy at the table was paying
particular attention to our conversation. I went into the storage room,
and started digging through my stuff when I distinctly heard this guy
(who obviously didn’t realize I was in the next room) ask the
other people if I was my brother's sister.

I froze, and listened in astonishment as he proceeded to tell them
how he begged my brother to give him my email and how he wouldn't.
Then he started planning his strategy, “If she comes back down here—
I’m going to get her number.”

Yikes! Doesn't stuff like that only happen in movies?

I had no idea what to do. It would embarrass him to walk back out
and I would be totally uncomfortable if someone I didn’t know
asked me out in front of a whole group of people. There was no other
way out of the house (although I briefly did consider the window :))
so I just worked up my courage to eventually go back out and brazen
it out. My admirer apparently choked when faced with reality and I
quickly escaped into the other room.

The funny thing is that if I’d have seen that scene in a movie, I
would’ve made fun of it as completely unrealistic!