Tuesday, October 9, 2012

My First Date: The Date

This post is part two of the story of my first date. Click here for the first part of the story. I don't want anyone to be lost.



After almost a week of mental anguish and dozens of trips to the bathroom to puke my guts out, I had successfully asked a girl out for the first time. Since this was the first girl I had ever asked on a date, I should have developed a sense of confidence in my 100% success rate. However, I wasn't looking at it this way. I had accomplished the asking part, but now had to spend an entire evening with her. I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I was no less anxious than before I had called her.

What are we supposed to talk about?
After spending hours trying to decide what to wear and trying not to insult my mother as I explained that I could not possibly eat anything due to my nervous stomach, I started the drive to her house. Every possible date disaster flashed through my mind as I got closer. What if I puke on her as soon as she comes to the door? What if we have nothing to talk about? What if the night goes well and she wants a kiss at the end of the night? I've never kissed anyone. I don't know how to do that!

I pulled up to her house and suddenly felt even more self-conscious. I mentioned in the last post that her father was a doctor. She lived in a huge house with a large, beautifully manicured lawn. What would she think about the way I was dressed? Would she be embarrassed to ride in my rust bucket of a car? It was too late to consider such things now.

I knocked on the door and was invited in by the woman that answered. She was obviously too young to be Jennifer's mother. Was this their maid? Rich people have maids, right? I introduced myself and told her I was there to pick up Jennifer. The woman gave me a confused look.

POSSIBLE MAID: I didn't know Jennifer was going out tonight.

ME: I was supposed to pick her up at seven.

She left to go get Jennifer and I sat on the couch trying to decide what I would say when Jennifer came down. Over fifteen minutes passed before the woman returned.

POSSIBLE MAID: What was your name again?

ME: Brett

She thanked me and went back upstairs. What was that? Why is this taking so long? Has she changed her mind? Does she really not know who I am? By the time she came back down, I had been there for over thirty minutes worrying that I was leaving a nervous sweat stain on their couch.

POSSIBLE MAID: Jennifer asks if you could come back at 8:30?

I agreed and went back to my car. I drove around town for the next hour trying to figure out what just happened. In that hour, time seemed to stand still. I didn't know if 8:30 would ever come around, but eventually it did and I went back to her house.

As soon as I got out of my car, she came bouncing out the door.

JENNIFER: Sorry I wasn't ready earlier. I thought this was a joke. I didn't realize it was really you and didn't think you were coming.

I opened the car door for her and she asked if I wanted to go to the Loiterers' Club, a local club for teens. I agreed since that was the first time that I had even considered what we were going to do. Remember, this was all new territory for me. At that moment, I had already made more progress with a girl than ever before.

On the way to the club, I was relieved that the small talk was happening without much effort. She was pretty easy to talk to. This date might actually happen without me committing social suicide.

It turned out that she wanted to go to the Loiterers' Club because she was already planning to meet her friends there. She made a quick introduction and said she wanted to dance. I am not much of a dancer, but followed her to the dance floor and danced with her and all of her friends. After several dances, one of her friends noticed that a booth had just opened up. She took my hand a started toward the empty seats.

Let me repeat that. She took my hand...

A girl was holding my hand! I knew this didn't mean anything, but I was suddenly on top of the world. It was this moment that I repeated to one of my friends the next day. She held my hand!

Now I had gone even further with a girl. This night was great!

The rest of the night went without incident. We danced some more. We talked and visited with her friends. There was lots of laughter and the night went really well. When I took her back home, she even said, "I had fun. Let's do this again."

I drove home floating on a cloud. I had just spent an entire evening with a girl. I hadn't embarrassed myself. She seemed to like me. Her friends liked me. The night could not have gone any better.

The next morning I saw a few of my friends who wanted to know how the night went. I told them how great it was and couldn't wait to see her again. They offered me their congratulations and did a little of the obligatory teasing that guys have to do.

Later that afternoon, I had to go into work. One of my coworkers said that he heard I had gone out with Jennifer the night before. He was one of her friends from school and asked me a bunch of questions. He wanted to know where we went. Did I meet so-and-so? What did we do afterwards? He seemed genuinely interested and I was happy to answer them.

However, his last question threw me. I don't remember exactly how he worded it, but he basically asked if I got lucky before dropping her off.

I just stared at him not sure what to say. I hadn't even kissed her. No, I hadn't gotten lucky. I hadn't even tried anything. I didn't even think of trying anything. It was the first date I had ever been on with anybody. Sex was not anything that I had even thought about. Having just stepped into the dating world, I wasn't yet accustomed to this aspect of the male 'locker room' talk. After a few uncomfortable seconds of stunned silence, he raised his eyebrows and said, "Well?"

I felt my face get red as I got angry. I shot him a dirty look, clocked out, and stormed out of the restaurant. After a few minutes, I forgot about the conversation.

When I got home, I called Jennifer to see when she would want to go out again. Hopefully, she would be free that night.

JENNIFER: (angry shouting) No, I don't want to go out. I don't ever want to see you again.

ME: (confused) What?  I thought we had a good time?

JENNIFER: I did, but then you told Rob you slept with me!

ME: No, no, no. I did not!

JENNIFER: No, you didn't actually say it, but I heard all about it. He asked and you gave him an 'I got lucky' smirk and pranced out of the room smiling!

She slammed the phone down. I sat there stunned for several minutes. What just happened? Do I call her back and explain? Would she even believe me? Should I go kill Rob? Why didn't I give him an emphatic 'NO'? Did he misunderstand or just lie? I really wasn't trying to give that impression! How do I fix this?

I mulled this over in my mind and finally decided to just let it go. It wouldn't matter what I said, Rob would stick to his story. Plus, now that the thought was in her mind, she would always wonder how it really went down. I resolved to be single once again.

Monday morning, I saw Jeff at school.

JEFF: Hey, did you go out with that girl Friday night?

ME: Yeah, I did.

JEFF: Cool. Let's double this weekend.

I shoved him into the bushes.

18 comments:

  1. There had better be a part III so we can find out if you committed social suicide.

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    Replies
    1. I'm sorry. It's not supposed to be up yet. I published it accidentally and am still finishing it.

      Delete
  2. Oh man, I remember the awkward high school dating scene, I actually was dumped by a girl who was pissed because I said that I didn't sleep with her...women!

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    1. Dating is not fun regardless of the age, but high school was especially brutal. I never did figure them out.

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  3. OH! My sympathies. I have had my non-look misconstrued, too. It always leads to rumors, but since gossipers never check their sources, I have learned to just let them talk.

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    Replies
    1. As an adult, rumors can fly and I just don't care. After my divorce, I heard some of the worst things about me, but just didn't care.

      It was said that I pulled my son out of school, when he had just graduated early.

      There was a rumor that I had moved a woman into my house.

      I had a painkiller addiction, when I had only been on Vicodin for 2 weeks because of my shoulder.

      People just think they have to talk.

      Delete
  4. Yeah, obviously you had no idea, but him being one of her friends, whatever you told him would no doubt be repeated to her, so an emphatic NO would have actually been the right answer. Ah, the pitfalls of dating in our youth. If we didn't make so many mistakes, we would never figure out how to do it right. Well, at least "less wrong."

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    Replies
    1. I learned the strong NO later. It is amazing in the teen dating world how hard I had to fight to defend things that I didn't do. I really had not meant to mislead him, but had I any idea he was going to do that, I would have made it more clear.

      However, I think he was looking for a way to paint me in a bad like. He was after her.

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  5. Awwwwwwee that's so sad! D:

    Is it unbearably cheesy for me to hope that she somehow finds this post and learns the truth?

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    1. I was careful to only use first names to help people stay anonymous, but that would be nice. Although, I doubt she even remembers this.

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  6. Oh my gosh. Saying "No" would have helped quite a bit, probably, but I don't understand how somebody can confused anger for "I got lucky". Whatever the issue, that was his fault. Honestly, I don't think he should have even asked that to begin with, since that's not any of his business.

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    1. I later learned that he was that guy who had hung out with her forever in the 'friend zone' and wanted him for herself. He was going to give a bad report regardless of what was said in the conversation.

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  7. I really loved this story, even though it ended badly. I love how open you were with all of your fears and nervousness. It was just so dang sweet! Sorry to say that :)

    It's a bummer how it ended, but at least she held your hand :)

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    Replies
    1. Most guys feel that nervousness, so I figured I wasn't being to personal by admitting it.

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  8. Oh Lordy do I remember the high school dating scene, I never did figure out the girls back then and even though I have been married over half my life I am still not any closer.

    Bad thing is no matter how you had answered you would have been wrong, I have a feeling he sabotaged you in his story to her anyway.

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    Replies
    1. I later learned that he liked her. I believe he was going to give her a bad report regardless.

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  9. Aw poor Jennifer. Dating is so hard especially as a teen. So much drama. It's like permanently being on Big Brother or Jersey shore, from what I hear.

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    Replies
    1. It was pretty rough and hasn't gotten much easier over the years. Red and I got lucky and just found each other and have gotten to skip the typical dating thing.

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