Happy Ending Afterall

It was a lousy date, from the uncomfortable lulls in conversation right down to the friendly handshake goodbye and the blatant lie that “we should do this again sometime.” It’s not a case of him being a bad guy or anything (though he was too arrogant for me, which is really saying something!), just a case of two people having little to nothing in common. It’s not a reflection of my potential datability. Still, I couldn’t help but feel a little bit of a bruise to the ego when after trekking all the way up to Chestnut Hill via septa to meet at 8:10, the guy was ready to put me back on the train by 9:35. I know that’s the unspoken rule of meeting for coffee. It’s a quick way to assess weather there’s potential. It can be extended to a walk or a meal if things are going well but coffee is also less of a time committment: 30 mins tops and you can bail. I just hated feeling like a pecie of data being analyzed from the cost-benefit perspective of a soon to be engineering graduate. In the end that’s the real point of a first date, but he didn’t have to be so obvious about it.

I got on the train releived to be rid of him and took out my cell phone. I doubted he’d be in since he’s always working late, but I couldn’t be up in Ben’s neighborhood, 2 stops from his house and not call. I was shocked when he picked up; he was just as shocked — and thrilled — when I told him I’d be at Allen’s Lane in 5 minutes. Benji to the rescue! Lousy night saved.

He was there waiting for me right as I got off the train. Turns out it was perfect timing. He’d been down in the dumps and I’d had a bad date so we both needed some cheering up. We hung out at his place just talking and goofing off. He’d salvaged an old MAC (pre-IMAC, from the early 90’s) that had been left by the road with the garbage and put it together. It was fun looking through the random person’s hard drive. The 21st century equivalent to the dusty old trunk in the attic. He drove me home around 1am. It was nice not to have to be at the mercy of septa. And his mom’s car has a moon roof and I got to stick my head out and feel the *wooosh* of air rushing by me at 60mph. Fun stuff 🙂

Who needs a boyfriend when you’ve got the best guy friend in the world!

Steph