You think your life is full of uncomfortable moments? I ran into my ex's ex at ComicCon.

We all remember that time I was married. I've talked about it before now. But that's not the purpose of this post.

Well, it's kind of related. But not too much.

Way back in March, I was invited--very courteously, I might add--by my best friend Sahara's boyfriend to go with him to ComicCon. This was NOT repeat NOT a date--Sahara was off being all academic in Chicago at the American Sociological Association Conference, she would have gone with him if she had been in town, and she was totally okay with me accompanying Landon as friends.

Landon and I are good buddies anyway--antisocial people are pretty good at understanding other antisocial people, and we were both super stoked about going to ComicCon. I was dressed up as Peggy Carter (as you'll remember if you read my post about Statuesque Guy) and Landon had a nametag on a Despicable Me/Doctor Who mashup shirt that read "Hello, I am a Stick."

He wasn't in full costume that day, and besides, it's a joke that only people who read Brandon Sanderson understand.

Anyway. We went into the convention center, mouths open, squealing "Look! Harry Potter things! Look! Doctor Who things! LOOK BUTTONS! Look, ART! A TARDIS? CAN WE GET A PICTURE WITH IT? NATHAN FILLION IS GOING TO BE HERE CAN I MAKE OUT WITH HIM?"

All the yes PLEASE

It really did escalate like that, and ok, that last comment was all me and not Landon, and I may have said it twice or. . .okay, okay, maybe three times. I would like to state that Landon was totally on the lookout for Rapunzel art, because she's his favorite Disney Princess so he was in no place to judge me for my strong attraction to the impeccable Captain Tight Pants. And yes. He has a favorite Disney Princess. And you do too, don't try to deny it. It just means he's cool.

There were quite a lot of people there in costume, and there were quite a lot of people whose costumes were much more impressive and less. . .obscure (I hesitate to use that word, because Peggy Carter is a pretty well known character, but apparently most people don't cosplay her as she appears in the movie scene where she wears the red dress) than mine and Landon's.

About ten minutes and lots of concrete and fluorescent lights after entering the behemouth convention center, my fellow adventurer and I came across these two young women, dressed up as two of the three female Jedi in the Star Wars Universe, and their costumes were impressive and detailed, and because ComicCon is 20% asking random strangers with good costumes to take pictures with you, we walked up to them and asked them if they'd take pictures with us. They agreed.

One of the girls--she was painted blue--looked slightly stymied and was studying my face.

Her: Do I know you? You look really familiar.
Me: Do I?
Her: Yeah, you do. I don't know if I'm recognizable--I'm blue.
Me (looking at her face): Huh.

So we posed for the picture, and it really started to bother me, because she did look familiar even though she was blue and had tentacles on her head. And I said as much.

Her: What's your name?
Me: Hilary. Yours?

As she said her name, she got this look on her face like something had clicked, and about two seconds later--I blame the delay on her blueness--who she was clicked with me.

She was the girl my ex had dated a few months after the annulment had been granted. They'd broken up, but I knew who she was; and she knew who I was, and there was this unspoken moment of "well, I don't know what to say," and we just turned away from each other and I walked away with Landon, who was suddenly my new favorite person in the world.

As soon as we were out of earshot, I whispered at him. Which was a silly thing to do in a convention center full of lots of people.

Me: I know who she is.
Him: Who??
Me: She's my ex's ex.

Great costumes. Awkward moment awaiting us.

And then Landon just started laughing. And patting my shoulder and apologizing all at the same time, because Landon, although he might laugh at my discomfort, is strangely adept handling at other people's crises with calmness. He was very understanding when I got weirded out every fifteen minutes and hid behind him when going around corners.

It wasn't that she seemed odd or mean. She seemed really nice, actually, and I definitely was impressed by her cosplay--she seemed like the kind of person I would have liked to be friends with under different circumstances. It was the weirdness of the association that was making me hide behind Landon and occasionally make pterodactyl noises whenever I thought about that moment. And I'm fairly sure she was having similar feelings about interacting with me.

But really, though. Anyone who puts together a cosplay like that and paints herself blue has to be an awesome person, because THAT is commitment to NerdDom. I just wish I had known what to say to her.

And poor Landon. No one deserves to be walking around with a friend who makes quiet pterodactyl noises at intervals. Like I said, he was very understanding, so every time I whimpered he just patted my shoulder and said "it's okay." Which actually really did help.

But we did end up having an excellent time, all said and done. I got to become better buddies with my best friend's boyfriend, which is important to me because Sahara has basically told me that she has to approve anyone I get involved with in the future (and with my dating track record--with the exception of one or two good guys, it's been messy--who can blame her?), so I feel it my duty to return the favor. Hanging out with him that day reaffirmed my initial impression: Landon really is a cool person. And I cannot WAIT for ComicCon in the fall. I have some ideas for an actual planned legit cosplay this time, but I'm afraid divulging those would be

Spoilers. ;)

And this cosplay was the funniest thing I've ever seen.
Sorry, Spider-Man.