A2 Date Report

Where to begin...

A2 told me on the phone the other night that he has a thing about shaking hands when meeting for a first date (um, OK). He said it's like a "sign" to everyone in the restaurant that you are on a first/blind date. He also said he'd call me from the restaurant so that we could easily find each other. Fine.

I get to the restaurant at the appointed time (6:30). He's not there. I wait a few minutes, then decide to call him. I mistakenly call A1 (since their numbers are sequential alphabetically in my cell phone). I manage to hang up before A1 answers. Phew. I call A2 and he says he's walking up the street. I see him and go over to say Hi. He looks pretty much the same as his photo - no surprises (positive or negative). We sit on the patio and order drinks. A while later the waitress comes over to take our dinner order and I say that we haven't had a chance to look at the menus yet. I pick mine up, but he doesn't. He then says that he's already eaten dinner (huh? I thought we were meeting for dinner??) but to go ahead and order something if I wanted. Um, no, I don't think I will (feigned some excuse about not being hungry since I snacked on crap all day long, which is true).

The conversation was fine. He didn't give up much personal info about himself, even though I asked. He also didn't ask me much about me (which is Litmus Test #3, and how I can tell whether I think a guy is into me).

We are sitting on the patio, which is on the side of the restaurant. The restaurant is on the main street in my neighbourhood, so the patio is along the side street that feeds onto the main street. It's a one-way street going north. I am facing north, sitting right on the edge of the patio. About an hour into our date I notice a familiar car: It's R (my ex). He is driving north on the side street, then makes a right-hand turn onto the main street, in the direction of where he lives. Wow - that's my first R sighting post-breakup. My heart sinks a little, but I manage to keep it together.

About 20 minutes later, A2 gets up to go to the bathroom (he's already paid the bill). I am sitting there by myself and guess who drives by AGAIN??? Yeah. This time instead of turning right (towards where he lives), he turns left (heading downtown). Now, unless you know my neighbourhood, where R lives, and how the one-way streets and dead-ends are configured, you'll have to accept my word that I can't see any reason why he'd be driving up that street a second time within a 20-minute timeframe, unless he had done it deliberately.

In the meantime, I check my cell while A2 is in the bathroom and notice that A1 has called and left me a message. I guess he saw that I called his cell earlier. I haven't called him back (nor have I listened to the message). I'm not in any hurry. We communicated a bit by e-mail today and he asked if I wanted to get together next week. It looks like we'll have date #2 on Friday. I think I'll need to have The Talk with him that night, though.

Anyway, back to A2. We parted with a "thanks for the drink it was nice meeting you" but that was it. He's a bit too anal and rigid for my taste. I don't think we share similar values, so I really don't see any point in seeing him again. I seriously doubt I will hear from him again, anyway. I don't consider it a waste of my time because every guy I go out with brings me closer to the one I'm meant to be with.

So, onto the next prospects...