Sunday, January 22, 2006

Starting 2006 Off Right

I stood nervously in the spot where I had kicked off two first dates with two previous guys, and only a few hundred yards from where I had started my first. Though the list was short, the experiences all ended up soured in some way, shape, or form, and with that fact in mind, I shuffled my shoes nervously waiting for his arrival.

I maintained a calm face, and I suppose I could say I felt a bit more experienced with the "date" thing. I wasn't going to go into this having my heart set on anything. I've learned an important lesson in 2005, and that was if you set yourself up for grandiose accomplishments, they become grandiose failures as well. In short -- I am all about keeping my mouth shut until things happen. I have a tendency to talk about things, and make a bigger deal out of them than I probably should -- and when something goes wrong, I end up looking rather pathetic.

A guy I once knew walked past, and asked me for a lighter while he through a burger king bag of garbage into a trash can. He had since become a heroin addict. A loser.

"Sorry, don't have one."

At that point, I remembered that I needed one. A day or so earlier I had purchased what I will refer to as a "stress pack" of smokes. I don't smoke regularly, I go long lengths of time without it, but I needed to bring some sort of balance to my nerves before the date.

I went inside the store, bought a lighter (bright red), and as I handed the money to the cashier [super boy], I caught a glimpse of a green car pulling in amongst a line of others. Super Boy's words were faded, and muffled by my own concentration on the car that had just pulled in.

"Thanks, have a nice night."

My eyes froze to the car, and the handsome boy behind the steering wheel. It was him.

I pushed my way out the door, when I saw him step out of his car. Tall, and handsome. When we made eye contact, his face lit up, something I hadn't experienced before with the dates in the past. It was a gratifying smile that shot beams of happiness into me.

I was smiling as well.

We smiled and hopped into his car. Some girls that had been staring at me while I waited, were now bearing the faces of disbelief as I got into the car with him. I'm thinking they were checking us both out, and were a tad dissapointed when they saw how interested in each other we were.

Off to Toona Town it was, and the car soon filled with conversation.

Wanting to steer clear of grandioseness (ha!) we opted for Denny's. A place we were both comfortable with, and an almost goofy care-free representative of exactly how care free we were about this date.

The conversation just seemed to roll out of our mouths onto the table.

Sexy hazel eyes, amazing smile, and a great personality sat poised across from me flirtatiously, but I tried keeping my defenses up. Although I liked him, and he seemed to like me, I've been mislead before, and I wasn't about to send out proverbial wedding invitations. I would make my judgements as the evening went on.

Then, off to see Hoodwinked. Pretty funny stuff, kind of cool...for kids. But our mentality is the same. We both enjoyed the movie, and laughed at a snarling caughing woman who was in the theatre as well. There weren't many people there on a Thursday night, and I was so tempted to grab his hand. I kept thinking about it, but with the turnout of my previous date, I was all about taking things slow.

I had brought up Amanda's comments on bringing him to play cards earlier in the date to make conversation, and with nothing left to really do, he agreed that it sounded like a good time.

Back into town we went where I was greeted with a circle of people playing "Outburst" in Amanda's dining room. I introduced him nervously, and he was instantly adopted as part of the group.

Amanda greeted us first, and I could tell that the girls were wishing they were gay men so they could have a stab at him. But...he was mine, and I was ready to protect him violently if necessary!

The good times rolled on, and he was instantly meshed into the group, fitting in like a missing puzzle piece. During "outburst" he leaned toward me to show me answers on a card, and I got all warm and tingly.

He met a lot of people in my life that night, by his own decision.

Laughs, smiles, and chortles filled the room, and by midnight the game was over. Everyone had to leave, including us.

I wanted to do more...but I was unsure of how he felt. I was so physically drained too, but would've willingly endured if I had any suggestions beyond sitting in the car and talking.

I felt like everything I said, he smiled. He has smiling eyes. I love that.

When he finally dropped me off at home, we did not kiss, despite the fact that I wanted to so bad. I wasn't sure of so many things.

He drove off, and I collapsed in the house overevaluating every detail of the night until he got home, and got online.

As it turns out...he too wanted to hold my hand in the theatre. And he too wanted to kiss me. He raved about everything he liked about me, and it made me feel so great.

Everything I was thinking about him, he had also been thinking about me. We raved about what an amazing time we had, and now, we will be spending the day tomorrow, together.

Now it's time for the second date, and we're both extatic. I can't wait for him to get here tomorrow!