Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Hello, My Name is Rachel...

...and my life is a romantic comedy. For real, I feel like I am Sandra Bullock in real life. And yes I realize that she is a real person but you know what I mean.

But, guys, I did it. I went on my first date. The friend that I alluded to on my last post is awesome. Not to be a copy of Ms. Bradshaw, but, I'm going to call him The Yankee. He's from New York and a Yankees fan so it totally works.

My family has a HUGE Labor Day party every year and my brother invited The Yankee. Me, J and L were sitting inside talking and getting away from the heat when they came upstairs. You could tell that The Yankee was nervous but introductions were made and approval was given. I was intrigued. J and L kept trying to get me to go strike up conversation with him but I was really nervous. I tried to get closer to where he was standing but would only do so when J and L were with me. Well, wouldn't you know it, they walked away from me, leaving me all by my lonesome, haha. So, I decided to park my ass on a cooler and just wait it out. Then the opportunity arose and The Yankee needed a beer. So, being the helpful pseudo hostess that I was, I asked if he needed a beer. He said yes and it turns out that the cooler where I parked was his cooler. Convenient? Cut to 3 hours and 4 strong drinks later, I'm miss social butterfly and spy just the conversation piece I needed to get things started. It worked, he was hooked, I was drunk and flirty and I may or may not have spilled red wine all over my pants. All was right with the world and we made plans to hang out that Monday.

Monday rolls along and I was getting SUPER nervous. L and I stayed up until about 11:30 the night before trying to pick out the perfect first date outfit. We settled on this really pretty, flowy dress and high heels. I had asked The Yankee earlier in the day for a clue as to where we were going and all he said was either French or Italian. So, in my mind, I thought "Somewhere nice that isn't around here". Points already.

I spent a good 2 hours on getting myself together and I gotta say, I looked goooooood. Especially for how nervous and excited I was, haha. I go to make my grand entrance into the living room in front of everyone and I see that The Yankee is wearing a white t-shirt, jeans and sperrys. I was SEVERELY overdressed, which I announced once I walked into the room which sent everyone into a fit of laughter. So guess who had to run upstairs and change......this girl. So, I ran upstairs and got it done in 5 minutes while in a panic. Good to know this was getting off to a great start.

We had a pretty good conversation in the car and I was really looking forward to going to a restaurant that wasn't a chain restaurant and that wasn't in the immediate area. We parked and walked a few blocks to get to the Italian restaurant that he picked, all the while he explained why he picked it and telling me how great the place was. Well, we get to the restaurant and it's closed. I'm talking chairs stacked, no lights, all doors locked kind of closed. The Yankee was like "OMG! They never close! This sucks!" I told him not to worry about it but I had to laugh. So we got back in the  truck and drive a few blocks to the French Place. He manages to parallel park his HUGE truck on the TINY street (points again) and we start the walk. Well, we get to the restaurant and it's closed. I shit you not, it was closed. I laughed SO hard but The Yankee was really embarrassed. I reassured him it was fine but that he had to pick a third place because I was starving, haha.

The third place he took me to was this little trattoria which actually turned out to be really good. Our waitress was really cute and kept telling us stories about her life (you could tell she was still new the job because she didn't hate her life, haha) and kept commenting on what we ordered, WHICH WAS DELICIOUS! Again, all was right in the world.

Once the date starting winding down I started getting really nervous about the end. Ya know how at the end of "Cinderella" she turns back into a tattered mess? Yeah, that's me except I turn into a bumbling, giggling idiot who uses sound effects for words. But, The Yankee handled it and just told me how great a time he had and asked to walk me to the door. "This is it...." I thought. "He's totally going to kiss me. Omg what if my breath is bad? What if he is a bad kisser? WHY ARE THERE SO MANY BUGS ON OUR DOOR?!" Panicked. We get to the bug-covered door, I turn around he he's standing on the last step not really saying anything so I squeak out "Hug?" and make some stupid arm gesture. He obliges and then tells me to have a good night and walks back to the truck.


That's it.

I gotta tell ya, I was confused. This has never happened to me before. I ALWAYS got kissed on the first date. But, I liked it. And I didn't. It just really threw me for a loop. Then I got the text, "I had an amazing time with you tonight and I really would like to see you again soon". BOOSTED! Cue touchdown dance in the pjs in my room.

I don't know guys, this one might be interesting......