IML has come and gone. The things I was worried about with Texas Boy never materialized. Instead, a whole host of other little things popped up instead. Nothing world-shattering mind you, just the usual growing pains that any relationship goes through.
I have social anxiety. I hate being in environments where I don't know anyone. It sucks and it makes me want to scream. Texas Boy, on the other hand, does not have social anxiety (or he can keep his in check). This works for me because Texas Boy can lure people over with how cute he is and I don't have to be the one to awkwardly start up a conversation. Teamwork!
Texas Boy also didn't seem overwhelmed at all. We were both worried about it, but aside from a few rooms that were dangerously crowded, he was a frickin' moth to a flame. For some reason or another, my allergies decided to riot on Sunday night, so I stayed in the room and watched Game of Thrones while he ran off to some party. It must have been around 1 AM when he finally decided to waltz back in and grace me with his presence.
Friction. It happened. And not the kind you'd think. Honestly, it was really just a basic miscommunication on both our parts. Monday night was our last night at IML and I was still feeling under the weather. Well, Texas Boy had invited an adorable puppy to spend the night with us (after they'd spent basically the entire evening wrapped together...), and hadn't checked if I was cool with him staying first.
Ultimately, it worked out. We both acknowledged that we'd failed to communicate the situation and how we felt about it. It all worked out in the end though. Puppy spent the night, he and Texas Boy were adorable together and everyone had a good time. As much as I would have preferred it to be just us on our last night, I'm happy with the way things went.
Aside from that, IML was a lot of fun. I feel like it's typically more oriented towards socializing than playing, but you can still have fun if you know where to look. In my case, I got to chain up two boys and spend a few hours in a straitjacket with a well-used jock strapped over my face (every boy's dream!)
All in all, good weekend, lotsa fun. Texas Boy is ALREADY making noise about coming back to Chicago for MIR. I have no idea how I'm gonna keep up with him...