The Date

Ah yes, my date with Andy. The heavenly three hours of my Saturday.

The rest of Saturday was ok. I spent an hour and a half getting ready for meeting him at 8pm and before then, I had to buy food. Because... well... I didn't have anymore. And I ended up going to the mall as well and buying cool stuff from Bath and Body Works (sale galore!) and Target. Getting ready consisted of the following:

bath in new Sweet Pea Bubble Bath Mix
shower
moisturizing with White Tea and Ginger Body Cream
nail painting in Tart color (dark red) with sparkle finish
Mint Citrus Hand Lotion (for both hands and feet)
black boatneck shirt
jeans
black cardigan
brown flats
brown headband
silver flower earrings
silver necklace with "diamond" pendant
four silver bangle bracelets
brown watch
curly-cue ring
brown and gray eye shadow
black mascara
black eye liner
sparkly cotton candy lip stuff

I smelled really super good and looked very nice. I didn't want to over do it, mostly because we were meeting at a pub and going from there. But I looked like I was on a date. Big step forward from previous date of six years ago.

Anyway, I was running a bit late, only fifteen minutes. And when I got to the pub, I couldn't find him at first. He was tucked away in a corner table. He already had a beer and had drunk half of it. I sat down and he ordered me a beer. He brought water to the table too, since we hadn't eaten yet. He looked nice as well. Jeans and nice brown shoes. And one of those warm, fuzzy sweaters with a zipper at the neck. It was begging to be touched. I'm not sure if that was sly wit on his part, or if it was just his cleanest and most presentable sweater.

So, we're drinking and talking. We talked about the World Cup games, about the paper I have to finish for my incomplete from fall semester. It was adorable. The author's name of the play I'm writing about in that paper is WEDEKIND. And I guess I either didn't say it loud enough or he just couldn't say it properly, but every time he mentioned the name, he kinda inflected his voice - as if to say, is that right? And I would correct him if it wasn't. Then, finally, he said it right. I got all excited. And then he said: Well, I thought about Darth VADer and then tried saying the rest of the word. :) :) The first syllable is said like: VADE. It was so cute. And he would grin really big and be excited since he could say it too now. Painful adorableness.

Anyway, it was after nine by the time we tought about food and most of the places on the Ave were probably closing, so we decided to just eat there. I had a ginormous baked potato. For like 3 bucks. I ate the whole thing of course. He had a sandwich called the Pink Cadillac. Rye bread, avocado, salsa, turkey and mild cheddar. Since it had salsa in the spread, it came with tortilla chips and he put them inside his sandwich. Again, cute. He asked before doing so. I used to put chips inside my sandwiches all the time when I was a kid, so not weird at all.

We talked about food in England, America, telling funny stories. It was incredibly easy to talk with him. Love that. Since we both have relatives in England, we talked about our families a bit. I told him about Steve's wedding to Becky. And how he's called a Muppet - kinda like being called a buffoon. And he told me about his university days. He's 27, 28? Turns 28 soon, yeah. Bioengineering. Was in Australia prior to Seattle, for four or five years. Before that, he was in England finishing his uni degree. He's here until the end of next year for sure and then he has to worry about work visas, etc. But it'll probably be renewed.

He paid for everything. Definitely a date. But then, I wanted some ice cream. So, we walked back towards where I live to the Haagen Dazs and got some yummy stuff. I paid that. I got mint chip and he got zesty lemon sorbet. And I love lemon sorbet as well, so I asked him if I could have some. And he said sure and sorta pushed it towards me. I kinda looked at it for a second and looked up at him. He didn't really get it, so I said: Feed Me. :) :)

He fumbled for a second and then fed me a spoonful. And then I fed him some of mine. It wasn't really a sexual, romantic moment - more ha ha funny and kinda cute. I guess we're both more like that than sexy, romantic. So, we were already walking towards my house and we past by an Italian restuarant. Andy had been there before and he said it was a great place. So I said we'd have to go there next time. OOPS. Uh... I mean, if there's a next time. And he kinda looked at me, smiled slightly and looked away. You have to cross I-5 to get to my house from where we were, so it was a bit cold and I linked arms with him and his lovely sweater. He was actually kinda cold for a guy. Normally, they're a bit more warm-blooded. So, then we get to my door and he looks down and stands back a bit. I hadn't finished my ice cream and thought we should get rid of that before any goodnight stuff. So, I said politely, not at all flirty: Do you wanna come in? And he says: Uh... I better pop off to home. And I realize what he thinks I said: Well, do you want to come in and help put my ice cream away in the freezer? Oh right, OK!

So, we go in and it's dark, but it's only 11pm on a Saturday. Nobody else is home and their doors are closed anyway. But he's whispering. I tell him he doesn't have to, but it's nice to know he would do that right off the start. And then I walk back to the front door and we stand there for a moment and then he says: I had a really nice dinner tonight. Thank you for looking so pretty. Big smile from me. And I say: I had a really nice time too. And then we leaned into each other for a couple of quick, nice goodnight kisses. And as he's leaving, he says: I'm hanging out with a bunch of friends from Australia this weekend, but I'll call you during the week and we'll make plans? Yes! I say. Goodnight. Goodnight.

And that was it. I went downstairs and washed off my makeup and smiled for about an hour before falling asleep.

Yeah me! I had a date and it went really well! No awkwardness and no fumbling on my part! And I did not think of jumping him for one minute, mostly because I didn't want to go that far yet, but also because it was just so nice to hang out and be laidback cool with him. Laidback cool on a first date! What nonsense! But it worked. Old-school dates. I like em. :) :)

I'm still smiling.