A Good Date??

 *All names have been changed to keep the identity of my friends and potential love interests private.

Y'all.

My date last night has got me twitterpated. Infatuated. Giddy. Head in the clouds. Crushin'. Smitten. Enamored.

The premise of the date was that my friend Ellie got asked out by a boy from her ward who maybe isn't the best at picking up on social cues. She said yes to him to be nice and give him a chance but was not quite excited to be on the date so she asked me to double with her. 

I ended up asking a boy I met a month ago at a friend's game night, we'll call this boy Jack. Since that initial game night a month ago, these mutual friends of Jack and I have thrown a game night every week and we've both attended all of them. The first game night we got acquainted. The second game night he came off very flirty towards me (which gave me the idea to ask him out for this date.) But then this last game night he did not pay me much attention (which put doubt in my mind to ask him out for this date, but after consulting with my two younger brothers, they convinced me to ask him out anyway.)

Ellie's date had planned the date, we simply had to show up at the right place and time. The plan was meeting at a local Thai restaurant between 6:15 and 6:20pm.

This date took place on one of my days off work so I truly had nothing to do but sit in anxiety and anticipation all day while I waited for the time to leave for the date to come. My anxiety coping mechanisms manifested themselves in rollerskating and cleaning (I vacuumed my entire car and wiped down the dashboard and all the cupholders.) 

I picked Jack up at his apartment. As I was parking to walk up to his unit I almost had a couple nasty encounters with a sidewalk curb while trying to park in a small parking spot with a weird turn-in angle. I was grateful he wasn't there to be a witness because it was embarrassing. Even with no other witnesses I could feel my face go red in the privacy of my car.

I walked the three flights up to his apartment door and knocked. No answer. I rang the doorbell. A freshly showered Jack opened the door! He complimented my jacket and we were off. I was nervous. I think he may have also been nervous as evident by the chronic frog he had in his throat all night (poor dude).

We drove the short drive to the nearby Thai restaurant and discussed the happenings of our days and our tastes in music along the way. Jack should've studied more for his upcoming MCAT test. I should've worked more on grad school applications. He likes Gorillaz and rap music, I like Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo. Small talk things.

So we arrive at the restaurant, Ellie and her date had already arrived at the restaurant and were waiting in their car when we got there. We made salutations and introductions and waltzed into the restaurant all together. Ellie received praise for holding the door open for our entire party to enter the restaurant.

The restaurant was having a busy night and the one waitress was extra apologetic. Everyone in our party was nice about it though. We may have been too preoccupied in each of our own anxieties about the night to be pressed about it.

As we looked over our menus, I told Jack I'd pay and he refused saying I had asked him on the date and driven him there so he'd be paying. I didn't put up much of a fight😅 We ended up splitting both the pad thai and unbreaded sweet and sour chicken between the two of us. Both of us decided the pad thai was better:)

Some of the conversation highlights of the hour included Ellie's date finding out CS Lewis was a Christian, planning a potential Trader Joe's recipe competition night, and cheering to the fact that all of us are dumb in some way or another. Ellie's date did miss some social cues during the night but once again, everyone in the party was polite about it. Jack handled the situation with grace by continually asking the table questions. 

In the middle of dinner, Jack asked me about my favorite restaurants in the area. I listed a few and then in return he asked me if I'd ever been to Communal in downtown Provo. I said no, and he said, "Oh well they emailed me a coupon for free dessert for my birthday that was last week. Want to go after this?" I said yes knowing full well Ellie and I had planned to go shopping after the date in order to rehash the details of the night. I think I said yes out of haste, excitement, nerves, and also a personal inability to say no. I silently formulated a plan to ask him if we could go another time after we finished dinner.

Dinner finished. Jack let me take home the majority of our leftovers that he paid for. We parted ways with Ellie and her date and Jack opened my car door like a little gentleman. We assessed how well Ellie and her date got on. We both agreed that they probably weren't soulmates haha. I then broke the news that I wouldn't be able to do dessert right then but asked if we could get it another time. He said whenever I wanted!

I drove him home and made him queue some Gorillaz on the ride home so I could be properly introduced. We talked about our itineraries for the next day (we both had work) and potential hair dye plans (I might dye my bangs pink and he's previously dyed his hair black). I walked him back the three flights of stairs up to his apartment which put us both out of breath. A goodbye hug occurred and that was the end:)

It might not seem like much but it was a good date!! I feel like it's difficult for me to describe through the events of the date but I felt valued, cared for, and paid attention to. And do you know how long it's been since I've been on a date that went well? 5 years!!! Feels good to actually want to go on a second date for once. Ay ay ay. It's brutal out here. 

On another note, one of my new years resolutions this year was to go on three dates. By some miracle, I managed to go on three in the course of two weeks so now I don't have to go on any more, right? New Years Resolutions are OVER. Haha I think wrong. Especially considering I have two dates more in the works for next week hehe ok wish me luck bye.