Short-lived alone time
Never one to listen to my own advice, my vow of singlecy lasted a total of two days. I think I was short on sleep when I decided not to date for a week, and after a very good night’s sleep on Tuesday night, I was ready to get back to the action.
Wednesday night, I was supposed to have dinner with TheRoommate and a couple other friends. It just so happened that the restaurant that we were planning on eating at was just down the street from the bar where TheSister’sFriend was hanging out for happy hour that evening (she’d invited me out when I saw her over the weekend). I decided to head over to that part of town early and stop by to see her and her friends for a little bit.
I found them easily enough and as soon as they saw me walk over, the friends surrounding TheSister’sFriend on both sides immediately stood up and relocated themselves in order to open up an empty seat next to her for me to sit in; I felt like Moses parting the Red Sea. I took a seat to her right and spent the next hour or so chatting with the group. When dinnertime rolled around, I was more than ready for a change of scenery, so I quickly excused myself. On my way out, TheSister’sFriend asked if we could get together for lunch the next day. Since I didn’t have anything lined up, I agreed; a man’s got to eat, after all.
We had lunch on Thursday near my work. Everything was fine, except that I found myself questioning what I was doing. I don’t really have an interest in this girl beyond just hanging out with her, yet, I can tell that she is definitely interested in something beyond that with me. Of course, her not being able to take that interest to the next level is a whole other issue. I think part of the reason that I haven’t bailed on her completely is that she is associated with my sister and, as such, I feel like I have to treat her somewhat differently. In reality, that’s probably much worse for both of us, in the long run.
Thursday night, I invited Giggles over for dinner and a movie. It’s been a really long time since I’ve cooked dinner for a date, but everything went according to plan. I feel weird saying it, but I actually felt nervous in the hours leading up to the date—a first since we’ve starting hanging out.
She showed up on time (a big make-it or break-it criteria for me, especially if I’m cooking), bearing dessert. I greeted her with a kiss and a glass of wine. I had her take a seat at the candlelit table while I put the finishing touches on the first course. I joined her shortly after and we began to dine. The feelings of nervousness carried over from earlier in the day and it took me a while to calm down and get into a groove. Once I did, things went fairly smoothly; that is, until I was prepping the main course.
Giggles was sitting on the couch, enjoying a glass of wine and watching me run around the kitchen. I was only paying attention to the food at the time and was startled to hear a loud knock at the door. I sure as hell wasn’t expecting anyone and my mind instantly began to run through a list of possible subjects. Really, I already knew that TheNeighbor was probably standing on the other side of the door, but I was hoping that I could come up with someone else and a subsequent explanation to take her place. With great hesitation, I made my way over to the door and cautiously answered it.
Sure enough, there was TheNeighbor. “Hey neighbor! We’re making mashed potatoes and I don’t have any milk, so I was just coming by to borrow some.”
“Uh, ok, I’ll grab some for you. You can come in, if you’d like.”
Please don’t let her say something stupid, I thought to myself.
She made her way through the door and immediately realized what she had walked in on. Suddenly it felt as though someone turned the tension dial up to 10. I introduced the two girls, tried to get a bit of small talk going and poured two cups of milk as fast as humanly possible. Fortunately, TheNeighbor actually conducted herself in an appropriate manner and was gone shortly after. Internally, I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
“Do the two of you hang out a lot?” Giggles wanted to know.
“Not really,” I said, “we’ll run into each other occasionally, but that’s about it.” And, to further prove her undesirability, I proceeded to tell Giggles about the time TheNeighbor came over during my singles party and threw up all over my bathroom.
With that drama out of the way, the rest of the night was quite enjoyable. We finished dinner and watched a movie, all the while wrapped up in each other’s arms. After the movie, we moved onto dessert, which consisted of a couple gourmet items from a local dessert place. Giggles and I fed each other bites of triple chocolate raspberry mousse and white chocolate linzer torte—very romantic and very fun.
She ended up staying until about 3:00AM in the morning. By then, I was barely functioning, so I suggested that we call it a night. I’ll be out of town for the weekend, but I’m hoping to see her again early next week.
