This is two dates with the same person. I’ll start with:
First Date – Now this is more like it!
His texting/emailing style was a bit odd and difficult to
follow but not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things. He lives in a northern suburb of my home city
so not ideally close, but close enough.
We met after work on a Friday in a prestigious area of town at one of my
old favorite places, so great suggestion on his part.
I see him sitting at a reserved table and think “Nice!” Forethought, planning, thoughtful… I like
it! And he’s not bad looking
either. There’s a weird proportional
thing going on that I think might be his head being too big for his body…but it’s
one of those things if you stare at long enough, it goes away.
Conversation is good and drinks are flowing, there’s no
doubt he’s an interesting person. Plays
guitar, sings, plays tennis, writes, has built a chaise lounge out of a tree he
chopped down himself – a full on Renaissance Man. I get the feeling he might be slightly
unfocused but that’s a little bit of the pot calling the kettle black. On top of that, it sounds as if his sister
and her husband are LOADED and have a house in the burbs and an apartment in
this same prestigious area in the city we are in. And he has full access to both along with,
what sounds like, a fleet of luxury cars.
He’s very careful to explain those are not his things, which is fine by
me. But I’m not going to complain about
a couple of fun perks.
In hindsight, the red flags started popping up when we
talked about our jobs. I still don’t
have any idea what he does for a living.
I do know he spent the day chopping wood in his sister’s backyard and
missing conference calls for whatever it is he does do. Again, the drinks are flowing so I hear all
of this but don’t really process it until the next morning when replaying the
evening in my head. I don’t have a
problem with a guy who doesn’t have a lot of cash, I DO have a problem with a
guy who doesn’t have a work ethic.
Through conversation I learn two interesting things, he’s a
recent transplant from the west coast and doesn’t know the city well which is
kind of a bummer. I don’t love having to
play tour guide but, not a deal breaker.
The second is, he sat down at the table and took the space without even
realizing the reserved sign was there.
Oh. So no foresight or planning
involved in our seating, just luck that no one got pissed off enough to kick us
out. But, I chalk that up to being a
newbie to the area. This is me being an
adult.
Since this is the first date I don’t want to run away from
as fast as possible, we decide to hit another spot for one more drink. As we’re walking along he grabs me and says “If
you turn around, you can see where we can go for another drink if you want”. And it’s his sister’s plush city apartment,
with a terrace. Tempting….but no, I’m
not trapping myself in an apartment with a stranger. He doesn’t make an issue of it so, we move
on.
We find a place and continue to drink and talk and generally
have a good time. He suggests we get
something to eat, we look at the menu and he says…”We could go back to the
apartment and order in” Hindsight - red
flag #2. I say no, again, and we move
on, again. And later, “What do I have to
stock my bar with to get you to my place in the burbs?” Easy enough question to avoid but I’m
starting to feel a little uneasy. We
eat, have more drinks and finally I’ve reached my limit of good decision making
and decide to call it a night. Plus I’m
ready to go home. I’ve enjoyed his
company enough for a second date but not 100% convinced yet.
He walks me to the train and he has is arm around my waist, we’re
holding hands, basic affectionate stuff.
At one point he kind of grabs my butt, but not in a way that needs a
reaction on my part. It’s natural in my
opinion (this is an important point for the second date)
We have a pretty good kiss and make a plan for that Sunday
evening for a movie. It’s at least worth
a second, more sober meeting….
No comments:
Post a Comment