OMG we should totally be friends

Remember how I gushed about going on that young adult retreat awhile back? And how I was SO excited to meet people my own age that were so cool??

Well, I ended up emailing a couple of the people to keep in touch with them. One happened to be a boy named Sean. We hadn't really talked much throughout the weekend, but on the last night, we hit it off, and figured we should hang out sometime. So I eventually e-mailed him and we exchanged numbers.

Then nothing happened for awhile. Until right after New Years. He formally invited me to the white elephant party. On the day that the retreat ended, a group of us went to lunch at Oskar Blues in Lyons, and that's where I heard about the white elephant party, and of course they were all like, yea, if you and M want to come, we'll let you know! So I kept that in mind, and then during an email exchange with Sean, he forwarded a couple of e-mails from this girl Wendy, who organized the party, asking me if I wanted to attend.

I did go, and it was okay. I mean, I wasn't entirely comfortable with everyone--even though most of the people there were I had met before on the retreat--but I still went. We went out to mexican food, and then went back to Sean's apartment to have cake and exchange white elephant gifts. No big deal, right? Right. And at the end of the night, it was kind of like, "thanks for coming/good to see you/if I don't see you for a long time that's okay with me." At least that's how I felt.

Since then, I haven't had anything particularly exciting coming up, so I haven't returned the favor and invited Sean to anything. Until last week, when I read that one of the local cafe's was going to host a game nite on Friday. This Friday mind you. So I emailed Sean last week giving a quick explanation about the cafe's mission (they are one of those that are pay-what-you-can) and invited him. I even emailed him the link to register for game nite.

And then I waited, and waited, and waited. Last night over dinner with M, I told her how I haven't heard from him at all. We agreed that it wouldn't hurt to email him again to see if he was interested in going. So I did that, I simply asked, "hey, did you have a chance to decide if you wanna go to game nite on Friday?" And he just responded:

Wonderful,

I'm sorry that I didn't get back to you earlier.  I had made plans to go to a fondue dipping party with the same group of people as before at the Mexican place we went to.  You are more that welcome to join us at my buddies place.

Let me know if your interested, I will give you the address.

Thanks,

Sean

Did he really just write "the same group of people as before?" It's not like I haven't met THOSE people. I freakin' spent hours with them the day of the white elephant party. But what gets me is that a) Wendy can send me tons of generic "oh I'm so super catholic" e-mails, but she can't invite me to their fondue party. I know she is organizing it due to Facebook. b) If he had other plans, why didn't he say something? c) This just reinforces my opinion that THESE people are seriously in a clique. And frankly, I'm disappointed that they aren't open to new members.

I am so not that person that sticks to just one set of friends. I have friends in all different circles, and even when I'm going to something cool, I usually extend the invite, even if I know that person won't come. I do it because I like my friends, and more importantly, I enjoy meeting new people. I know, what a concept!!!!

Am I overreacting? Or can you all relate?