My dinner date

Last saturday, I was visiting Amanda in St Mary's, PA, and I got a text message from Lexie.

• why hello there mr. computer man.

she funnily replied to my proposal of dinner that night. It was already 15:40pm, so I decided to say my goodbyes and go back to Pittsburgh, in case Lexie accepted my invitation for dinner that night. After having given goodbye hugs and gotten back in my car, I replied:

• hey outdoorsy girl, what are you up to? any plans for tonight?

Then I drove all the way home, and didn't hear back from her for a while. It wasn't until I met Julian at GHC, 3 hours later, that I felt her reply come up on my phone:

• hey there stranger :) ill be home by 830, and could be in squirrel hill by like...915ish. unless u have a car and want to drive up 79n towards me and have dinner in my territory at like 845. any thoughts?

I had thoughts all right. "All right! Dinner date! :D". So I replied:

• I'll go explore your territory tonight. Pick your favorite and I'll meet you there. :)
• We could also go dancing to southside after. There's a club there with latin music on saturdays. interested?

A little under an hour later, she called me, saying that she was still driving back from work, and that she just needed to get back home to get ready and then go to dinner with me. She seemed slightly apologetic to be negotiating a dinner time with me while trying to make it back in time, so I reassured her that there was no rush. We agreed that I would pick her up at around 9pm at her house, she gave me her address, and we hung up. It was a little after 8pm by then, so I thought about what to do.

"Ok, I'm slightly sweaty from having driven and played with Amanda and her sister during the day, so I should get ready. I have ALMOST an hour to get ready and to drive to her house, which shouldn't be that far away. I'm sweaty and stubbly, so I need a shower and a razor blade." I rode home quickly, I took a slightly-used razor blade I borrowed from Theo, but it proved to draw blood from me more than once, so I decided to make a quick-as-possible trip to Giant Eagle to get another Gillette package.

It was about 8:20pm by then, so then I finished up with a clean shave, a good teeth brushing, and a nice fresh shower. I went downstairs to my room, found my jeans, found one of my nice button-up shirts I had gotten at the Waterfront earlier this year, and combed my hair back to look nice and sleek. :P

I thought sweat might be a bad thing to smell like, so I used some deodorant. I was looking for my cologne, and then I remembered I had left it in my black sports bag, which was in the office. Darn, no time. So I checked my dashing self up in the mirror, and headed out to meet Lexie at her house. It was about 8:40pm already.

I had not checked this before, but GMaps told me it took 36 minutes to get there. Man, I was going to be late. I texted her about it:

• i'll be there about 15 min late :P / your place is pretty far.
• what time r u supposed to get here? and im sorry :(
• lol i'll be there at 9:20
• kk. do u want to meet at the restaurant then? when u get off 79, they r all on 228 right thr. ill drive 10 mins and meet u.
• sure that works. take your time, no need to rush :)
• lol. ok. where would u like to eat? thr is on the border, olive garden, moes, red robin, and longhorn steakhouse.
• i feel like olive garden :)
• excellent! me too. it will be on ur right hand side when u get off. ill meet u thr around 915 :)
• roger that

I was just getting off the highway as I texted that last message, so then I just drove to Olive Garden and parked. As I waited at the restaurant, I recapped possible conversation topics in my head. We had met salsa dancing on wednesday, and though we didn't get to talk too much that other night, I knew enough about her to bring up a few conversation starters.

She was a little late, and when she got there, her face was flushed and she said she was hot, out of running to get ready and to get here. I touched her face and indeed, she was hot - I just smiled and reassured her that there was no rush, then asked for a table for both of us.

We had a pretty great dinner date. I started off by asking her how had her day been, I told her how mine had been, and then we wandered off to other subjects, including her family, my family, her very keen memory, her status as a student, her plans for the future, my student status, the outdoors, books, Dr. Seuss, her friends, and an upcoming trip she had, starting the very next day.

I felt very comfortable the whole dinner through :). We found much common ground between us, and her manner of speaking was very clear and mature, albeit funny and entertaining. We enjoyed each other's company, and we were hesitant to leave the restaurant - we did so because her friend had just arrived at her house, and she had a big week-long trip to get ready for. She said "well, we can still walk outside". So we did.

I walked her out to her red Trail Blazer, and then she stood by her door, and we talked about how much had we enjoyed dinner. Phrases such as "we should do this again sometime", "definitely", "don't forget the camping trip sometime later" passed between us as we looked at each other directly in the eyes, and I saw a sly smile on the corner of her mouth, a little closer and softer every time, until I saw her face tilt, her eyes close, and I slowly, thoughtlessly, blissfully, touched my lips to hers.

It was fantastic. A cute, awesome girl I was only seeing for the second time, engaged with me in a sweet goodnight kiss. I pulled her head slightly toward mine and embraced her body gently, happily, wanting to make her feel both comfortable and pleasured.

In one of our kiss pauses, I said "too bad we have to cut this so short", and I meant it, as I was barely getting to know her lips and body. However, I knew we would meet again, so I thought that letting her leave early was an appropriate thing to do. Having both showed our liking for each other, we were now both in the open, and I knew that we would get to talk and kiss again :). It was just a matter of time, and built-up anticipation can be a very good thing :). And I don't just mean for the physical part :).

So after a little while we decided to leave. She whispered "text me when you get back, so I know you got home safe", and I said "you too". "I only live 5 minutes away!" "Yeah, but I've heard this 228 road is pretty dangerous ;)", referring to an accident she had told me about during dinner.

Right when I left her, however, I did something I still slightly regret, but it came so automatically that I only realized it until I had already done it. We kissed goodbye, we hugged, and then I patted her on the back.

Pat on the back?? Is that an appropriate date ending? After an awesome, sweet goodnight kiss? I'm not too sure... almost sure it's not. It came out so automatically, but it was because I really thought she was pretty awesome, not because I was petting her or something. Anyway, I think she didn't make much of it - she still smiled like before, and again told me to text her when I got home.

During my return trip, I felt so... :). Even the word itself is not enough... I was just... :) :) :) :))))). So happy I had met her - she's so smart and confident and mature and... "correct" lol :P. I like her a lot.

We texted a bit saying we had gotten back home safely, but we haven't talked since. She's on her big senior trip, so I've been waiting to send her a text wishing her an awesome time on her trip. She's so cool, though :P. Can barely wait for our next meeting.