Damn, those fries were good. They were better than the conversation, better than the food they accompanied, better than, well, just about anything I can think of right now. Yes, I said better than the conversation. Better than anything.
This was second date with Freckles. He's pretty much the only person I've been communicating with and thought I might as well give him another shot since there was nothing obviously wrong with him (still waiting for that shoe to drop) and my recollection of the first date and behavior on said date may have been affected by my pre-date drinking. Just maybe.
Probably.
Ok, so we agreed to meet on a Saturday evening and walk to this little, random bar about 15 blocks from our neighborhood. Turns out he lives about a half mile from me ... now I will reinstate my check plus/check minus system, purely for the sake of creating texture in the narrative. So, living close to me: check plus. He told me on the phone when we were discussing possible options that he'd done some research about places in the neighborhood that he hadn't been to but wanted to check out and he was ready with multiple suggestions. Check plus. We picked one and picked a time.
He was late. 25 minutes late. Check minus. When he got to my place, he apologized. Check plus. We walked up to the place, chatting the whole way. I was really concerned that on the first date, I talked way tooooooo much and realized that I probably did and was doing so again. I also realized that he's a quiet person. He's very laid back and chill. Even. When I'm in the presence of such a person, I feel the overwhelming need to fill the silence left by them with my own voice. I need to work on this as I'm sure it can be very annoying, exhausting, and generally unattractive. I tried my hardest during the eating portion of the date to try and engage him more and tell my own stories less. It worked, kinda. The conversation was much more even than I recall the first date being. Still not great, though. I have learned through this process that I really respond to people who have the confidence and personality to joke with me. This guy seems serious. He does, however, have this really cute little laugh. And his eyes crinkle when he smiles. It's very attractive, actually. Moving on ...
Around 10:00 I felt the conversation waning a little bit and suggested we settle up and roll ... either home or to another venue, I kind of left it hanging. He told me that he was going on a 105 mile bike ride the next day and was waking up at 4:45 a.m. to meet his cycling buddies ... yes, that was 105 miles. Not a typo. He does triathlons ... like, a lot of them. He's done over 10. This is very impressive to me and makes my own 'psycho' gym habits pale in comparison. Anyway, he walked me home and we had a nice hug at my door and he again said something about calling me to hang out again. I walked into my building feeling decidedly un-jazzed and happy to be back in my house so I could just go to sleep.
The next evening, Monday, I texted him to ask about his bike ride and he responded that it was good and then asked my availability for the week. We agreed to meet on Friday and he said he'd get in touch later for details. I decided to give Freckles one more chance to make a move or bowl me over in some way ... I'm tired of meeting guys who are nice but don't spark or, in the alternative, meeting guys who spark but are not nice. Why can't someone just be both??
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