So far, there have just been two bad dating experiences with my Modern Romance dating experiment. On the upside, there have been a lot of positive dating experiences. Last night, I had a second date with Smiles. He is someone that I definitely would not have had a second date with if it were not for the “three date rule”. I enjoyed my first date with Smiles. He was sweet and funny, and he seemed a little nervous, which was charming. I definitely find him physically attractive. He is a little nerdy sometimes when he laughs, as a nerd myself, I like guys who are a little nerdy. Where things went south on the first date with Smiles was that evening after our date, Smiles sent me a text that read, “Hey, it was great meeting you! Let’s do it again sometime.”
To me this text messages indicates one of three things:
Possibility 1 – Smiles has an all-together lack of interest in me
Possibility 2 – Smiles has a lack of confidence that he has a chance with me, so he is trying to seem nonchalant
Possibility 3 – Smiles enjoyed our date, but doesn’t see us dating, so he would like to be friends
Without the three date rule, I would have not responded at all, or I would have sent him a message back thanking him for the drinks that evening. Instead, I went with the least damning of my perceived possibilities and texted him back, “That reads as, ‘Let’s just be friends.’ Is that your intended message?”
Smiles’ response back to me was, “Not at all, I would like to be lovers, so maybe a 2nd date is in order.”
I liked the use of the term lovers. One major upside to older guys is they still use the terms “lovers and making love”. It is as if these terms along with romance in and of itself are no longer en vogue with people under the age of 40.
From here, we exchanged text messages which led to a second date. A second date that I was looking forward to. Our second date was last night. He was extremely late. This was not his fault. There was a major flood and he is newer to the area, so he did not know all of the routes to take. This actually worked out well in that it gave me the opportunity to catch up with some bar friends at our favorite hangout. My friends and I had a fun happy hour, and we met some new interesting people. The downside of this was that I was pretty buzzed when Smiles arrived for our date. I am curious to catch up with him to find out if he noticed.
Smiles got major points for walking right up to me and my group of drinking buddies and taking a seat with us at the bar. I have had guys that would not approach and rather would extract me from the scene via text message while they waited at the door. I have male friends, and guys who are intimidated by this are not a good match for me. Smiles was not at all intimidated, to the contrary, he sat down and ordered a drink, and he instantly became a part of the conversation. He met Smart HP Guy, and they discovered that they work together. They talked about their roles in the organization, and I think that the whole crew could have spent the rest of the evening exchanging stories and laughs. I was the one put an end to happy hour because I was REALLY hungry, and I had been looking forward to my one-on-one time with Smiles.
Smiles and I said bye to everyone, and then we headed over to a restaurant in Vintage Park. We actually went to my least favorite place, but it was the closest one, and I was worried that there would be a wait at all the others, and I was seriously hungry. I really enjoyed our dinner together. I liked that I told him that he seemed too far away. It was a really big booth meant for four people, so he came and sat next to me. I really liked the warm feeling this gave our date. We kissed here and there, and he made me smile.
The only less than perfect moment was that he was apparently living with someone and had been in Austin this past weekend getting his stuff back from her or something. I tend to shy away from dating people that have gone through recent break ups. In general, they are not ready for a new relationship and one bears the brunt of whatever their recent ex did to them. I also have reservations that Smiles didn’t make mention of this on our first date.
My resolution on the matter is that I once again really enjoyed my time with Smiles, and he seems to be looking past the fact that I was tipsy last night, so I more than owe it to him to look past this undisclosed relationship thing. I figure that we can talk about it the next time that we are together when I am not full of vodka sodas.