The Date

Shiny and black, the pontiac pulled in with a slightly nervous looking Hot Shot in the drivers seat. It was 4:51 PM, and the sky was a darkened gray. He looked over at me, and with eyebrows raised he quickly turned his head in a cute nervous fashion.

With a gulp, I pushed open the door and left the warmth of the convenience store and headed toward his car. I walked with false confidence to the car as he cleared some debris from his seat. He smiled.

"I've gotta get some gas before we go."

The ice still sat firm between us, unbroken as I sat twiddling my thumbs nervously inside the car while he pumped the gas.

Definitely cute.

The drive to Altoona was filled with conversation of bands, and music. As per usual, he picked on my Def Leppard fetish, but later admitted that he was just doing it because it was funny. He admitted that he didn't actually know any Def Leppard songs beyond Pour Some Sugar On Me.

Unlike most gays, he's definitely a rock fan (which is a plus). He's also into Star Wars, which is a plus as well. It's good that he's kind of geeky, and not uptight. He didn't seem to ooze an ounce of homosexuality.

The appetizer, non-alchoholic drinks, meals, and dessert were free, and a friend of mine just happened to be the manager on duty, so a captain and coke was sent on the house. (We actually each ended up having three, against our own will.)

Dinner really broke the ice as we made jokes about ourselves.

"I bet you can't do this."

I put the straw through the gap of my front teeth.

He laughed.

"Cute."

Only slightly buzzed, we had to come up with our next plan.

Survive Dinner. Check.

So, it was off the mall. Spencer's....what a first date.

"Here you go." I waved a box of edible undies.

"What flavor do you want?" he smiled.

It wasn't long before the mall became boring, and he suggested driving past his apartment.

Yikes. "OK, but I don't know if I want to go in. Bad things could happen."

"This is true."

I knew it was going to happen anyway. The vibe was in the air. I sat with him in the car as we tried to brainstorm of other things to do.

"Well, I suppose we could go in and think of something. I wouldn't mind seeing your Christmas tree." (Christmas lights and Christmas trees are a common topic of conversation between us.)

He'd just moved into the apartment so there was no cable. His clothes were in bags, and strewn around the bedroom much like my own. (And I don't have a good excuse for it!)

We had decided a movie was a bad idea prior to arriving to the apartment, because of how it prevents conversation, but we ended up hooking up the little portable DVD player and watching part of Batman Forever.

It was cute how he put a pillow between us and said "we'll be ok" with a grin.

Moments earlier we had been whipping a Santa Claus hat at each other in the room that was lit only by his Christmas tree. It was kind of romantic.

Then he opened the blinds.

"SHIT!"

It was white out, and hella snowing.

"Oh no, you better take me home."

It was going to be a 20 minute drive back to my town in GOOD weather, and the snow was piling fast. We left, and only when we got onto the high way did it really set in that this wasn't good.

"If you had your stuff you could just crash at my place." he said.

Moments passed, and I knew that I had to make a decision. The drive home was going to be too dangerous to risk, so we got off at the first available exit and turned back for his place.

I was staying the night.

To be continued...