Here is my next Mr. Adorkable instalment. I've decided to keep the same format as my last post regarding him, listing the pros and cons, and then finishing up with the very cute ending.
After the drinks, I decided that I was going to play it cool. I had done well to resist most of my keeno instincts throughout the evening (random social media message aside), and had come out looking somewhat interesting (if a little weird).
I knew that he was going to our nation's capital for the remainder of the week for work, and I decided that it would be best not to disturb him whilst he was there. So the wait began. You can imagine the number of text message compositions ran through my thoroughly overactive brain during this time.
Finally, the night when he arrived back in the Southern city was upon me and I no longer had to wait. So I settled for a very simple message, noting that his drunken ravings about a particular restaurant he frequented for Lunch had persuaded me to go, and indicating that should he wish to join me, he was quite welcome.
What seemed like the longest hour and a half of my life passed before he messaged back (whilst I was having a minor conniption over the fact that he didn't respond immediately, and telling myself that he was clearly uninterested and likely to reject me forthwith, in hindsight, an hour and a half is actually super fast in man time. Most guys don't write back for at least a day or so, at least in my experience). He said that lunch would be 'great.' Not 'good', 'great!' GREAT!!!!!!!!!! I never thought that that word could cause me so much excitement.
So the day for the planned lunch rolled around (incredibly slowly in my opinion), and we arranged to meet outside the pub we'd had drinks at the week before. Now to the pros and cons. I will start with the pros this time, because one of the cons won't make much sense without them:
Pros:
Cons:
After the drinks, I decided that I was going to play it cool. I had done well to resist most of my keeno instincts throughout the evening (random social media message aside), and had come out looking somewhat interesting (if a little weird).
I knew that he was going to our nation's capital for the remainder of the week for work, and I decided that it would be best not to disturb him whilst he was there. So the wait began. You can imagine the number of text message compositions ran through my thoroughly overactive brain during this time.
Finally, the night when he arrived back in the Southern city was upon me and I no longer had to wait. So I settled for a very simple message, noting that his drunken ravings about a particular restaurant he frequented for Lunch had persuaded me to go, and indicating that should he wish to join me, he was quite welcome.
What seemed like the longest hour and a half of my life passed before he messaged back (whilst I was having a minor conniption over the fact that he didn't respond immediately, and telling myself that he was clearly uninterested and likely to reject me forthwith, in hindsight, an hour and a half is actually super fast in man time. Most guys don't write back for at least a day or so, at least in my experience). He said that lunch would be 'great.' Not 'good', 'great!' GREAT!!!!!!!!!! I never thought that that word could cause me so much excitement.
So the day for the planned lunch rolled around (incredibly slowly in my opinion), and we arranged to meet outside the pub we'd had drinks at the week before. Now to the pros and cons. I will start with the pros this time, because one of the cons won't make much sense without them:
Pros:
- He was earlier than me in getting to the meeting place, and I saw him pacing back and forth before I arrived.
- We are sort of beyond shaking hands hello now, but I felt like I needed to do something to greet him beyond saying hi and waving awkwardly, so I went in for the hug right off the bat. This didn't seem to bother him, and he went in for the hug when we were saying goodbye, which was brilliant.
- The lunch itself was really good. He is, of course, incredibly funny, and chatty, and smart. He asked me a tonne of questions about myself and seemed genuinely interested in my responses. We didn't run out of things to talk about, which is always a good thing.
- The staring standoffs kind of continued between us, but thankfully neither of us were drunk this time, so they lasted only a couple of seconds. I realised that he is a very intense person in terms of eye contact and topics of conversation, which is a definite pro for me, because I am exactly the same, at least when it comes to interacting with guys that I like.
- We got coffee after lunch, and I'm pretty sure he was making an awkward attempt to pay for me. I wasn't positive though, so I paid for my own coffee in the end. He got a little bit flustered over the whole situation.
Cons:
- I laughed so much at one point that I snorted. Hot. Really, really hot.
- He got a bit overenthusiastic in his story telling at one point and as he crossed his leg with some force, managed to kick me. This isn't really a con, it's just kind of amusing. But it still demonstrates the continuing level of awkwardness between us.
- Even though the conversation went very well, I feel like I talked about myself far too much, and that I didn't ask him enough questions about himself. Having said this, I wasn't given much opportunity, I would finish a train of thought, the banter regarding it would end, and he'd ask me another question. I am just hoping I didn't come across as completely self-absorbed, or just weird. I would sometimes go off on random tangents, like I somehow got into talking about how I liked things and places to be clean. That's right, clean. Mid way through talking about cleanliness I had one of my common moments of thinking-out-loud. It went a little something like this- 'Wow, I must sound like the most interesting person in the world. What are you into? Oh, you know, cleanliness.' As I asked this question of, well, myself, he pitched in with the answer of 'hygiene.' Fun times. So I'm now the weird clean girl who snorts whilst laughing (not a good thing when the guy you're trying to impress moonlights as a comedian) and cares nothing for the stories of others.
After coffee, we got to the corner where we had to part and, as mentioned before, he hugged me goodbye. He told me to run back, and as he was walking in the direction of his office, I told him to be sure to let me know if he wanted to hang out with me again. I wanted to leave it open for him to be the next to initiate contact, as I had already put myself out there, and now the ball was firmly back in his court.
I then did in fact run back to my desk. I arrived back rather breathless and was getting out of my coat when my Phone started to ring. I was very flustered and may have sworn at the phone in frustration. One of my colleagues offered to take the call for me, but I assured her it was ok, I could grab it. I picked up the phone and proceeded with the standard greeting. 'It's just me,' I heard him say on the other end of the phone. He proceeded to start chuckling. I started giggling. He said 'I just wanted to check you made it back to your desk.' I told him that, yes, I was most definitely back at my desk. 'Well, that's good, because it is currently 2:06pm and it would have looked really bad if you weren't.' I asked him what he would have done had someone else answered the call, and he said he probably would have manufactured a query. I asked him if he had anything work related to ask me whilst I had him on the line, and he laughingly told me he didn't. We ended the phone call and I was a blushing, giggling mess, so you can imagine the reaction of my work girls. It was such a sweet little way to end the whole thing. I'm liking our endings so far, I'd just like our beginnings to become a bit more positive.
The elation from the success of the whole lunch thing sent me into a rather lalala type of mood for the next day and a half. Then I moved into the next, much scarier stage of lunch aftermath. That, however, is a post for another time.
Snorty McSnortster,
B. J. Barnes
