What’s up?
I agreed to it the way I agree to anything scary – just say yes in the moment and forget about it until it comes around. Turns out that was kinda difficult, given that I agreed to go on a blind date the very next day. As I rocked up my nerves overcame me, and I furiously messaged random greetings to half my contact list, so my phone would be constantly buzzing throughout the date, providing a prop and something to turn to when the convo thinned.
I knew he was my date the minute I saw him. He was standing outside, hands clasped over crotch, bearded and well dressed, peering around purposefully. Still, I ignored him and walked straight in to look at the menu. Stupid, I know, but I needed to scope him out first. I watched him for a few mins more and finally crept up behind him and asked if he was my date. Then I said something crazy like, “Hug it out mate!” What was I thinking?!
He was jealous I attended the Kendrick concert, so that provided good fodder for a while. Then we talked about where we lived. Turned out we both flatted in the same area at one point, and we figured we might have been at the same house party before, just in different friend groups.
I gave him my number at the end, mainly because we both would have died of embarrassment if I didn’t. Oh, and between eating my burger, and talking about this and that, I didn’t even look at my phone, and had to reply to like nine ‘what’s ups’ when I got home.
Omg you’re as funny as Steve Martin!
I got to BurgerFuel early and she got there late. What do they say about ‘opposites attract’? When she came up to me she was grinning and gave me a big warm hug – a good sign. She had long brown hair, bright blue eyes, and the biggest, happiest smile.
She was a real cool chick too. She had good taste in music and TV shows, and some real good banter. We talked about all the boring things like what we were studying, where we lived, what our interests were. Nothing too deep and meaningful, but lots of jokes. She laughed at just about everything I said, but I get the feeling it was a ‘first date laugh’, not a ‘omg you’re as funny as Steve Martin’ laugh. Still.
When the burgers came we both seemed to relax even more, and after a while it just felt like we were old friends catching up.
It was a bit more awkward than how I’d usually meet someone, given that we don’t really do dating out here in NZ, but I reckon if I met her in a less forced situation we would have got on even better. Given everything being a bit weird, I reckon it went pretty bloody well. We’ll just have to see how it goes from here; maybe if we get drunk together it will feel more like a normal NZ date.
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