Two Blog Posts in One

 Hello. Pardon my absence. 

After my last date I got emotionally overwhelmed and my social schedule was filled with other fun things so I took a non-intentional month long hiatus from the dates. But we're back.

However, in that month, with the limited knowledge of dating I'd gained in January I was able to lend support to a couple friends with dating quandaries and queries. My friend Hope messaged me asking for  advice on how to ask a boy out and my other friend Matilda messaged me asking for advice on how to stay calm before dates (spoiler alert, I don't really lololol) (if either of you guys have figured out your aliases and are reading this I hope my advice helped but I am no expert.) But being on this dating journey (blech I hate using the word journey for things like this) and seeking advice from my more experienced friends and lending out advice to my equally experienced friends has reminded me of this tweet I saw on facebook (the brother of one of my mission companions posted it in case you're curious how I found it)

I love supporting my friends and feeling supported by my friends.

So anyway. Here we are in March and I'm trying to figure out how to insert myself back in the dating game. I don't think apps are for me. There aren't a lot of boys in my life I feel like I could ask out myself right now. Setting up double dates takes a lot of coordination (I am full of excuses in case you couldn't tell.) But! I went on a date last night. Here's how it played out.

Once again, the circumstances preceding the date were a bit odd. But not as weird as that second date with Jack hahaha. Wednesday night I'm added to a group chat by my friend Luke. The only other person in this group chat is my friend Jamie. Luke asks both Jamie and I what we're doing the next day at 6:30. I replied and said I was probably going to go to my brother's orchestra concert and Jamie replied and said she was taking a friend out for her birthday but we both asked why he was asking. He replied and said he needed someone to go with him on his roommate group date. I said I could go but only after we gave him a hard time for asking us out in a group text😂 that is a new one for me. 

The date started at 6:00pm and he got off work a half hour drive away at 5:00 so I met him at his house. On my way there I checked my heart rate and it clocked in at 120bpm. Yippee I love anxiety.

 So yeah I met him at his house and we drove together the Korean BBQ place where the date itself was taking place. We met his other three roommates and their dates there. My date Luke was very sweet and even though it was both our first time at a Korean BBQ place he made sure I was getting all the dishes I wanted and that they were being cooked properly and he was very considerate of my gluten allergy (which is really all a gluten free gal could ask for.) Side note: I would go back to Korean BBQ. It was a fun dining experience.

Two of the couples left right after dinner ended which left me and my date and one of the other couples. Even though we were all full of Korean meat we decided to go get ice cream and then go back to the boys house to play a card game. And that was it. That was the date. I was home by 10:00pm.

Overall, I think I have a tiny crush on this kid. Let's go over his good qualities

1. Attentive. Asked me lots of questions about myself (and about other people at the table) and listened and remembered many details about my life that I'd told him previously.
2. Treated me like a princess??? Always opened my car door, made sure my food was cooked well, and said I could get two scoops of ice cream at Baskin Robbins even though the coupon he had only worked for single scoops😂 (I only had room in my stomach for a single scoop so that's what I got) and he told me to text him when I got home safe.
3. Emotionally intelligent. (Exhibited signs of self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, and social skills throughout the night) Especially when I showed up to his house feeling so anxious and he was just chill either because he was just being himself or he was trying to put me at ease. Either way I appreciate him.

When all is said and done, I had a really really good time and wouldn't mind going on a second date with this kid but also he's a little hard to read when it comes to figuring out if he's actually into me or not. I've known him since October/November and have suspected he may like me like that but also not. I've voiced this to my brother and my mom and they told me to just wait for him to make the next move which is totally fine with me. He did invite me to watch two different BYU men's soccer games this weekend (one on Friday night, one on Saturday night) but I'm working 2-10pm both days😭 literally the one weekend I'm closing both days. Nevertheless I'll definitely see him again because we have the same friend group and we hang out almost every week.

Ok bye.