one random Sunday afternoon

For the entirety of my stay in Rome, my friends, my good, close friends know one of my many quirks is social anxiety. May was especially good at trying to reassure me and put me at ease whenever she had parties. Mainly, she let me come over early to help her and that way when people start arriving, I've gotten used to the idea that I'm at a party and will have to interact socially.
Most people who know me at the office cannot fathom that I am a wallflower when it comes to huge ass parties or social gatherings. I just can't do it. More than 3 people I don't know, it's a problem.
So, Pyro told me he was in my area and that I should come over because he was with his friend and they were going to eat and bask in the lovely weather, etc. The house was a two minute drive from mine, so I considered it.
I actually showed up. Progress. I wanted to talk to Pyro about the other evening. But that didn't quite happen. As I approached the house, I saw that it was a rooftop gathering and there were people there. Heart palpitations going into override. I parked the car and called him.
He's like, where you at? It took me 5 minutes to tell him that I was not going to go up because of social anxiety. He said, he'd come down. He came down. He said hi and tried to pull me towards the building. I said no. Seriously. Heart in my throat. He thought I was kidding or exaggerating. I'm sure you're thinking the same thing too. I'm 29 and I shouldn't be shy. Well, I was.
We ended up arguing in the street because I wouldn't go up and he insisted. I walked towards my car. He had tried to wrestle me. He tried to pick me up wrestling style and I put up a fight. In the end, he won out. He said that everyone was waiting for us to eat and I told him to just go and have fun. He said he knew about 3 people there and the rest he didn't. There was no way in HELL, I was going to do this.
The reason I say he won out was because he literally picked me up from the street with me kicking and screaming and brought me up the first landing. I was impressed. He actually managed to carry me across two buildings and a flight of stairs. After that he had to put me down. He was tired. I wished to God there was a way for me to glue myself to the floor. I argued. He was about to pick me up. I argued that I left my bag and phone in the car and if I was going to go up I needed to get it first. He argued back that we show up and then he goes down to retrieve the bag.
I'm thinking, HELLO! I cannot show up to a party of complete strangers, and the only person I know is going to leave me?! No WAY!.
He didn't trust me. I said I was going to come back to that spot (I meant the first landing). I went to the car and I seriously had to think about it. I couldn't be rude no matter what, that was mom's first rule. Had I not shown up it was one thing. I was already there. So what do I do?
I get my stuff and send him a message, go up and have fun. I was walking slowly (very slowly back to the building). He runs outside expecting to see the back side of a car speeding away. Instead he saw me walking towards him. "I told you I'd come back".
To walk through the door was easy. To make it to the first landing, since I had glued myself to it earlier was fine. The next flight of stairs was harder to climb. Quite possibly because I was shaking and my heart was beating three times as fast in my throat. It had taken me 4 minutes to climb the stairs. He promised me that if I come up, I can go whenever I wanted. and I said, can I go after 30 seconds? He's like, sure. Just as long as you come up.
I met everyone, I didn't say anything. I stayed for half an hour and my host wasn't taking care of me all that much, he was leaving me alone quite a lot. Not fun. I walked into the house at a certain point and I ran into the owner (my now neighbor). I thanked him and we made small talk. And I told him, I don't think Pyro is going to notice me going. Maybe I can disappear. He's like, no, no don't do that.
He goes out and talks to Pyro who comes into the house very pissed. I said, I did my part. I came up, I ate, I met his friends. I smiled. I stayed. Now, I was leaving. He didn't insist anymore.
We left it at that. Thank god! It wasn't as bad but it was bad enough. How to get me into a party full of strangers? Apparently, you have to literally drag me in.