It’s been so long since I’ve been on a date I’m not sure I remember what to do. I don't even know whether this is a real date or not but based on the invitation to accompany a nice young man furniture shopping I think it might lead to that. I had the day off so I spent it doing some of my favorite things. Cleaning and organizing things around the house. At the end of the day I look like I’ve spent all day cleaning so I decided to take a shower.
In the shower I mentally go through my limited wardrobe. It's warm and humid right now but we’re going shopping in downtown Milwaukee where the wind off the lake can be cool. I’d really like to wear the three-quarter length black t-shirt that I bought out in California but my sandals are navy blue and I can’t wear blue and black together. It took me a while to figure out what I want to wear. Finally I settle on a coral colored short-sleeved shirt with my white jean Capri pants.
The next decision I have to make is what to do with my hair. My hair is somewhere in between curly and straight. If I go straight the humidity will turn my hair frizzy but if I let my hair be curly it might go completely wild depending on how much moisture is in the air. Standing in front of the mirror I'm almost dizzy about this. I haven't felt like this in years. Finally I decide to let my hair do what it wants because unless the weather absolutely won't cooperate I drive with my sunroof open which always messes up anything I try to do with my hair.
His hair is short and really spiky. I think he must put something in it to make it stand up like that. Maybe tonight I'll ask him about it but that might be a little much for a first date. If you're wondering where I met him, I met this guy at work. We both work at the mall, he works at the Apple Computer store but he stops by my work for a smoothie just about every day. He’s a lot younger than I am but he doesn’t seem to mind the age difference.
I look younger than I really am and if I look young he looks like a baby. His eyes are big and blue. His skin is fair and I’m not normally a real big fan of the blonde hair blue eyes combo but it definitely works for him. He has a great smile, that's one of the first things I noticed about him. He’s almost always smiling. It seems like he’s always got something to smile about. Most of the time I see him he's wearing his headphones so I tease him about that. He just smiles and he has this adorable way of doing a half shrug that is just darling. I’ve never seen him wearing anything except his work clothes. I can’t wait to see what he’s going to wear to go furniture shopping. I hope I’m not overdressed but I want him to see me in something other than the clothes I wear to work.
We’re meeting down in The Third Ward. It’s an old part of Milwaukee. It’s right by the river and one of my favorite things to do is walk around seeing what’s new down there. Considering how much rain we’ve had the river looks low to me. We walk around for a while. I keep stealing glances at him, hoping he doesn't notice. He looks really good tonight. The Apple employees always wear brightly colored t-shirts. He’s one of those people who can get away with wearing blaze orange but tonight his shirt is long sleeved and ocean blue. Around his neck is a thin ropy necklace. It looks good against his tan. I smiled at him, he smiled back at me, this is turning out to be a great evening regardless of the fact that we have yet to set foot in the furniture store.
We walked past the Italian Community Center. I found out he likes Japanese food but instead of sushi we decide to try a little café style restaurant that neither of us have been to before. The food is great. We sat outside talking, drinking and I can’t stop smiling at him. I find out he’s not much of a talker. After a couple of glasses of wine I realize that now I can start relaxing. For a while all we do is people watch. A guy in shorts grabs his girlfriend and sweeps her off her feet. The gesture is so unexpected and dramatic I can’t help but laugh. It’s hard to remember the last time I laughed like this. It’s even harder to remember the last time my mood was this good.
Dessert was something we talked about. We agreed to wait until later. He’s so agreeable, it’s almost odd to me. That someone would just agree to whatever I wanted after a reasonable discussion about it. After supper we went down to the Milwaukee Art Museum. We stopped by the War Memorial. All the walking had whetted our appetites so we walked up to Prospect Point for dessert. I know I work at an ice cream place but it’s different when I’m not the one having to serve it. We split a sundae. I paid for dessert since he had paid for dinner. It was pitch black when we left the shop. The moon was out. We were really in no hurry to get back even though we still hadn’t gone furniture shopping.
Walking down by Lake Michigan is something I haven’t done in years. My friends and I used to go rollerblading down by the lake when we were in college. In a way this date is almost like a trip back in time. It’s nice to be hanging out and walking hand in hand with someone who doesn’t feel the need to clutter up the night with chatter. At the end of the night I’m not sure what I should say. It’s been a lot of fun. It was nice just to get out and I appreciate the fact that he paid for my meal and told me to order whatever I wanted. We’re both calm and mellow. It’s a good feeling so I told him I had fun.
He looked at me for a minute. He didn’t say anything but he was smiling again. I leaned forward to kiss him. The kiss was short and sweeter than the ice cream we had just shared. Love isn’t the word to describe what I feel for him so I can’t tell him I love him. I’m searching for something to say when he smiles and does the half shrug that makes him so irresistably cute.
“I had a really good time tonight.” I told him as I pulled the keys out of my purse. “You’re a great guy Don. This has really been a lot of fun. Thanks for going out with me.” He smiled as he leaned against the car. His keys went up in the air. They came down. He smiled at me again and as he started walking away I could just barely catch his response. "You're a butt dong jessicaj. This has really been a lot of crotch. Thanks for going out with chainsaw."
Thanks Donginger.
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