Alyssa BurdettFollow

Date Collected

Fall 11-29-2017

Place item was collected

Apartment kitchen.

Informant

Buttercup Sanchez

Point of Discovery/Informant Bio

My informant’s name is Buttercup Sanchez. Buttercup grew up in Lehi, UT and will be in Logan for just another week because she graduates this semester with a BS in elementary education. She’s twenty-years old, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and she enjoys spending time with her family and taking roommate trips to Swig. She went to high school with me and is my roommate for the time being.

Context

Every time I’ve heard this story, she and I have been sitting at the kitchen table in our apartment, usually eating something. This particular time she was telling me the story while waiting for her mini corn dogs to finish heating up in the microwave so she could go do homework. This story is one that would only be told to people my informant is comfortable with. There are particular parts of the story that she didn’t want to necessarily say out loud because she knew I was recording her and she’s such a good girl that saying certain things out loud makes her uncomfortable. This is the kind of story she would only tell her family and close girl friends. It’s highly unlikely she would share it with a stranger. To give a little background, Mutual is an online dating app specifically for Latter-Day Saints. This was her first time getting the app, and she’s not likely to get it again. He was the only guy she’d met from there, and she wasn’t interested in meeting more guys like him.

Text

Kay, so this was…like a month ago, maybe? And…we met on Mutual. I’m a little ashamed to say that. [Uncomfortable laugh] Um, but he asked. I was down, um, back in Lehi, for a weekend, aaand he asked me if, if we wanted to do something. So I said sure, why don’t we go to a movie? So he told me about a movie theater I never heard of. So, I actually had to Google it, because I never heard of it before, and it was in the middle of nowhere. So, it was a little sketchy, but I went, and I got lost on the way. [Was it a sticky-shoe, kind of thing?] No, it was a Megaplex. But it was literally in the middle of nowhere. [Like, what city?] Hmmm…I don’t remember the name of the city. [It wasn’t the Water Gardens, was it?] Uh, no, it was, I think it was over in Saratoga Springs somewhere? I had to go in that direction [I didn’t know there was a Megaplex over there.] I KNOW.

It was weird, but anyway, I get there aaand he’s also late. I just have a pattern with my dates, I guess. He’s also late, and then he walks in aaand, I was the only one sitting in the lobby, and he just goes straight to the counter to buy the tickets and sits down at a different table. So it’s literally just him and me in the lobby of this movie theater. [Laughs] And he didn’t realize that I was his date. So that was exciting. Umm, so I went up to him and I introduced myself and he gave me this hug, which was…also weird, because this was the first time we met. Then we go inside the movie theater aaand heee, you know the arm rests in between us? [Mmhmm] He made sure it was up. And me, being clueless, I didn’t realize why. [I thought, didn’t you specifically put it down, or was that something else?] Yeah, I did put it down and he made sure it was up. [Laughs] I was like “Uh, okay.” [More laughter] And then, uh, what did I say- twenty minutes into the movie? Last time I told you? I don’t remember. I don’t know, sometime into the movie, he grabs my hand. He doesn’t…you know, guys are usually a lot smoother than that, but he just, ugh, roughly grabs my hand. [And he looks like he was 18 years old.] I KNOW. And he said he was 22! NOT 22. [Laughter] So he grabs my hand, and I was like, oh, okay. It’s just hand holding. It’s fine.

Then later in the movie, he lets go of my hand and [mumbles] you know…grabs me around the shoulders and wants me to lean on, on his shoulder…aaand there’s no way that was going to happen. [Laughs] So I just sit still, stiff as a board, and he just kinda kept on pushing me towards him? To get me to move closer to him, but I wouldn’t do it and THAT’S when he wrapped his OTHER arm around me [acts it out] and was trying to turn me towards him to…ya know, make out. So I just said, “Oh, my phone’s ringing.” [Laughter] So I got up aaand I don’t want to tell this next part... [Laughter] It’s WEIRD. [More laughter] [It’s all good!] I went to the bathroom because I really needed to pee this whole time. [Even more laughter] [That’s not even bad!] And, then I…[sigh] I was just so uncomfortable that I didn’t want to see this kid again, but I went back in, and…I maybe, may have lied to him? [Laughter] Lied to him about something awful. [Laughter] And that’s when he walked me out of the movie theater and then he gave me this really long hug, which was very uncomfortable…because I knew what he wanted and I wasn’t going to give it to him. Aaand, that’s when I apologized for leaving, but I wasn’t very sorry. And I ran to my car and I drove away. And that’s it. [Then all the social medias, right?] Yep. Yeah, then he…tried to contact me again and I responded, but then right after that I blocked him. [Giggle] And got rid of Mutual and all that fun stuff. [Good for you.] Thank you. [Laughter]

Texture

She giggled a lot while telling this story. Oftentimes it was her response to uncomfortable things that were happening in the story or because she felt proud of herself for “not giving him what he wanted” or holding her ground. Her voice would rise in pitch some of the times she mentioned something he did that upset her. During the part of the story where she mentioned him trying to “make out” with her, she got quieter and started mumbling because she wasn’t comfortable saying those words or admitting that that was what would have happened had she not walked out.

Course

Introduction to Folklore, ENGL 2210

Instructor

Dr. Lynne McNeill

Semester and year

Fall 2017

Theme

G7: Courtship

EAD Number

3.9.3.37

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