the Date[s]...

Friday I was nervous. Nervous as in I was hittin' the ladies room every hour at the thought of him, and when I had nothin' else in me, I announced to the office that I was nervous every hour, to which my coworkers replied, "Shut up, you'll be fine." THEN, I got into a heated argument with a certain someone, which made me take my mind off of the date and into, 'get in my way and I'll beat your ass' mode. He called me on time to let me know he was outside waiting. I grabbed my things and headed out the door, still pissed. I couldn't locate him. I called him on his cell phone, "Where are you?"

"I'm walking right towards you."

He has the cutest Bostonian accent. I looked around,

"Nope. You're looking the wrong way, turn around."

I turn around.

"Turn the other way."

I turn around.

"Turn the other way."

At this point he's giggling. I finally have him in my sights.

"Oh shit, he is cuuute." He reminded me of some of the guys I went to class with back in the day in my Criminal Investigations class who were mostly cops.

A tall, with broad shoulders, clean shaven bald guy with a goatee starts walking towards me through parked cars. I drop my purse. I bend over to pick it up, and by the time I straighten myself out he's standing next to me and my car. I formally introduce myself, extend my hand to him and he shakes it.

"It's nice to finally meet you. This is my car and we're taking it into Boston," I said authoratatively.

I AM SUCH AN IDIOT.

I unlock the doors, throw my bags into the backseat and we both get in. He clearly couldn't fit his legs into my car. I turned away and smiled, turned back around and helped him adjust the seat. Then I noticed the highlight of the evening.

We were practically wearing the same outfit.

I wore jeans, and a form fitting blazer, he wore jeans, and a leather coat, the same color as my blazer. It was cute, in a retarded sort of way.

"Um do you realize we have the same colors on?

"Actually, yeah I did...Great minds think alike."

We pulled outta the office park, I 'absolutely' had to drive past my office suite's windows so my coworkers could see him on our way out...and I did, and they think 'he's so cute and buff.' Ugh.

On our way into the city, I could feel him staring at me. I tilted my head so my hair would cover part of my face. I was glad I was driving. It took away some of the nervousness as I concentrated on weaving in and out of traffic. He asked me questions, I answered.

By the way, our date started early, and some people made fun of me for choosing to meet at 4 PM, but I'm glad I did. It was such a beautiful day to be in Boston. So kiss my ass.

I parked in my usual spot, we walked out of the garage and headed towards Quincy Market, or so we thought we were. We somehow managed to get lost, which was fine with the both of us...it was a nice walk and, "I'm with you so, it's all good." I smiled and looked away.

He put his arm around me a couple times during this walk, I didn't respond to it, and I don't know why. I kept one hand clutched to my purse, and the other in my jean pocket the entire time, too. I did this as a caution. I wanted to hold onto his arm, I wanted to playfully nudge him at times, but I didn't, and I don't know why.

We sat in a coffee shop and chatted, he'd start telling a story and while I listened, I studied the features of his face, his dark eyebrows, his deep brown eyes, I used to think brown eyes were so plain, his eyes were pretty. I'd start telling a story and I'd look away. His stare made me nervous. We sat on stools next to a wall of windows, and as women walked by, I could see them checking him out.

After coffee we walked around Quincy Market, walked in and out of the little shops, I took him to my favorite store, a store filled with hand carved wooden trinkets, and we spent some time admiring the work. A few hours later we had our fill with the marketplace and I made him choose what we were going to do next. "I don't care where we go, how long it takes to get there. Just pick a place."

He chose to go to an outlet mall an hour away.

Sounds a little weird, huh? It wasn't. We walked around the outlets, did some shopping, it was an outdoor mall, and as the sun set, it became so COLD out. He put his arm around me again, and I didn't respond to it, and I DON'T KNOW WHY.

Then we decided it was time for dinner. The weird part throughout all of this was we didn't really talk. I had commented on the fact that maybe we spent too much time on the phone and we ran out of things to talk about. Though, even though we we didn't really talk, we seemed to be enjoying each other's company.

"Jess has good taste."

"With what?"

"She told me you were pretty and you are."

"Shut up."

I put my fork down and began to fidget. As we sat, I thought about why I couldn't feel a connection with him. I thought to myself, "This is just our first meeting." I asked him what he was doing the next day and we planned to spend the day together again.

Dinner was a little awkward, [and by the way, I am NEVER taking GasX again. I thought I was going to spontaneously combust as I raced back to drop him off towards the end of the night] I insisted on paying for my dinner because I felt really weird about the whole thing. I couldn't understand why I felt this way.

We ended the evening with a hug and with me saying, "Give me a call tomorrow if you wanna hang out."

Saturday

I got up around 10 AM, a little dazed and confused about the night before, not sure if he'd call. I went out and grabbed breakfast, arrived back home and checked my email. There was an email from him, the word "Newport," was in the subject line.

Upon reading the email, I immediately smiled. He wanted to take me to Newport, Rhode Island. I was to meet him at his place. As I continued reading the email, the phone rings,

"So are you coming up?"

"Yes. I just got your email."

"Good, bring an extra sweatshirt or something just in case you get cold."

It took me an hour to get to his place, and upon arriving, he gave me a tour of his place, after, we jumped in his truck [which took some effort on my part to climb in to and get out of...when I got out of his truck, I'd slide off of the leather seat and practically fall to the ground thankful I landed on my feet] and we were on our way.

He took me to the Breaker's Mansion for a tour, and we walked the Cliff Walk. It was awesome as the waves crashed against the rocks, and as we walked, I refrained again from holding on to his arm, or getting to close to him, and yet again, I DON'T KNOW WHY. I caught him stealing glances at me a lot, and I felt awkward. It was also very quiet. We didn't really talk, yet we seemed to be enjoying the peace and quiet. I felt so bad for him because it was so cold out being so close to the water. His poor little bald head.

He took me to dinner, and I again insisted that I pay for my meal. I felt confused about the whole situation. He had asked if I wanted to 'enjoy the Newport night life,' and I just wanted to go home, and I don't know why. I can tell that he likes me, and maybe I'm just not ready for that yet but I'd still like to see him.

I clearly have forgotten what it's like to date. I totally forgot how to flirt.

As I drove home, I tried to understand what was going on with me and it hasn't come to me yet. I'd like to go on and on, about this but, I'm tired. I keep thinking about "WHY," too much. I even forced myself to go for a run to try and forget about it all, which is why I am extremely tired.