First Date

"Hi. I'm wondering if you would like to meet sometime for coffee or something like that."

Two days after the concert and beers at the Underground, Joe messaged me over Facebook. (And looking back just now, I realize that he messaged me on his birthday. Guts!) I switched him out for beer, and the only place I could think of that was relatively quiet and had a decent beer selection was Orchard Green, so that's what I suggested and that's where we went.

I don't remember a whole lot about it, there were less than five people in the entire bar area, including us. We sat at the bar and tried a few beers, and we both still remember the one that tasted too strongly of banana. The conversation flowed well, and it was less awkward than most first dates. He did talk about cars, even though his brother had advised him not to. He really couldn't help it. You have to talk about your hobbies when you're getting to know someone, and that's his big one. It would have been disingenous not to, or I would have had no idea what I was getting into.

Joe didn't blow me away, but he didn't try to kiss me, so I gave him another chance. My plans for the next Saturday was going to Wilson's Orchard and then to BWW for a UFC, so he chose to join me at Wilson's. He almost screwed up on that one: he started getting a little too confessional when he explained the meaning behind his tattoos. He did all right other than that, and he still didn't try to kiss me, so the next weekend I dragged him to FryFest and we made it into the Guinness Book of World Records. The World's Largest Hokey Pokey. That was the first time he rode on the back of my motorcycle, when I took him back to his car. We talked in the parking lot for a long while, and he still didn't try to kiss me, so that's when I started wondering if we were dating or not.