In 2014 I went back to my acting roots and auditioned to work for my second Halloween season as an actor at a popular theme park. My first season working there had been the best job I ever had, even if it was just temporary. I met some amazing people, made some great friends and great memories and couldn’t wait to go back to make more friends and memories! After being given the job again, I couldn’t wait to get started.
During my second season is where I met Ollie*.
This story is quite a short one but it’s one that gave me a nudge into the next one so it has some importance. He was a fellow actor but working in one of the other mazes. Our two mazes shared a green room (you know, the room where we all get ready and eat food and just laugh and have fun outside of the show), so we ended up seeing each other a lot.
What people don’t see when they walk through the mazes is how much pressure us actors put on ourselves physically. We throw our bodies around in attempts to get the best scares so we hurt ourselves… A lot! The first time I spoke to Ollie was because he had done just that. He’d cut his chest after running into part of the maze. We laughed about it and started sharing stories of our injuries, cuts, bruises and even sometimes concussions.
Ollie was younger than me.
A few years younger which normally wasn’t my type but he was very sweet, funny and was honest all the time about everything…. Except that he was seeing one of the girls from his maze!
Now before you all start judging, nothing ever happened between us while he was still seeing her. We kept our distance. I found out from someone else that he was seeing her so I backed off. That was it. Until he ended things with her and we started spending time together, mainly at work to be honest. Our friendship built over the weeks at work and I started to realise that I had a soft spot for Ollie.
At the end of the work season, the cast and crew all have a big party to celebrate. During my eight weeks working as an actor I had lost a lot of weight and dropped to a size 6.
I know, who’d have thought it! I did tell you it’s hard work!
I was feeling amazing about myself and decided to wear an outfit I never normally would have worn. I put on a high waisted, burgundy, faux leather pencil skirt and this little black lace bralet thing (because they were all oh so fashionable at the time) with some strappy heels. For anyone who doesn’t care what I was wearing, tough, because I’ve told you now anyway. Part of me also just wanted to brag about losing loads of weight.
When I walked into that party, I was overwhelmed with compliments and for the first time in, well since I could remember, I felt amazing! Ollie came straight up to me and told me how beautiful I looked.
That night we shared our first kiss.
That was the beginning of dating outside of work but I’ll skip quickly over this bit because the end is where it gets important. He took me to the theatre to see a show by my favourite choreographer. He took me to see the Christmas lights in Covent Garden. I went to visit him in Eastbourne where we walked along the beach in the cold and he cooked me dinner. He was the sweetest guy (probably because he was younger then me).
Then one day he calls me to tell me he’d kissed his ex girlfriend the night before. I didn’t mind and I told him that it was ok because we hadn’t really had any talk about exclusivity. I didn’t mind letting him off the hook because I liked him and I appreciated his honesty.
That’s it.
That’s the end of the story with Ollie: I told you it was quick! After he’d called to tell me he’d kissed his ex, he barely spoke to me again. It was over just as it was beginning. He started seeing other people without telling me and then he met his now girlfriend. They’ve been together since and I am happy for him but, as always, can’t understand being left like that without any explanation or reasoning. My fleeting romance with Ollie was over just as quickly as it had begun. Only it was, like some of my other stories, over due to someone not being able to tell me the truth about how they felt.
After Ollie, I decided that focusing on me was more important than trying to date anyone. Then my next frog walked into my life and stopped me from trying not to date.
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