Talking

"Gosh, I'm clearly out of practice!" I lamented to Scott as I walked into the house at 2am on Saturday night. I couldn't hide the smile on my face after spending nearly 8 hours with G - the co-worker I went on the date with a couple weeks ago - but I also couldn't help lamenting that despite the giggling and touching that our flirtatious evening contained, I still didn't get even a goodnight kiss.

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Friday was R's 27th birthday. Around mid-morning she informed me that her boyfriend was coming to take her to lunch and she hoped I would join them--and that I would invite G. I countered with a lame excuse, apprehensive about the clear double date-nature of the exclusive invitation to him, but she batted away my excuse and I extended the invitation. G seemed eager to go and proved to fit in with us pretty easily.

After our return from lunch, I struggled to find a way to make weekend plans with G. He made the first move with a cute email a little after 4 and by 5 I had invited him to dinner at my house on Saturday night and then miniature golf. I was excited but nervous at this prospect, which I'm sure showed since I was a little jumpy when he arrived the next night. A somewhat quick dinner before miniature golf turned into us spending nearly 8 hours talking.

We talked sitting at my kitchen table and in my living room. We also talked as we leaned against my kitchen counter, for a time close enough that his jeans brushed my bare legs. Shortly before 1 my roommate returned home from work and after he joined us for a few minutes, I walked G out to his car. Out in the dark we managed to keep talking for another hour, even as my roommate blinked the lights at us twice. Standing between my car and his, I thought I would finally get to kiss him. G stepped toward me and butterflies surged from the pit of my stomach to my scalp, but I looked down to blush and the moment was broken.

I have no doubt we could've kept talking later in the night if Scott hadn't come out to see if I was still out there. I joined Scott at the gate to our back door and watched as G drove off, following Scott into the house to lament about what my evening lacked but smile about what it didn't and what the future might still contain.