Here's to the Night

Nick and Sara... the 1st date. While I could go on for pages about this evening, I will try to nutshell it down to the highlights (and lowlights).


Excited and nervous, I got to Sara's place around 6pm to pick her up for our date. I walked up to her door, she came out, and we walked to my car. I naturally opened the car door for her like a gentleman. (Related: An ex once told me that she had this weird rule that if a guy opened all the doors for her on 1st date, she'd give him a blowjob at the end. Now I do it all the time, just in case.)

We went to a Japanese sushi restaurant called Fujiama. When we got to the restaurant there was an hour wait, so we hung out at the bar and had a couple drinks. She got a text while we were chatting about work, family, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, etc., but like a good girl she didn't check the text. (I hate it when people check their phone while you are having a conversation with them. In the words of Stephanie Tanner, "How rude".) Turns out we have quite a bit in common as far as interests go. We both come from small families, enjoy sci-fi, watching football, dive bars, and (of course) karaoke.

When we finally sat down, we ordered a combo sushi tray/boat thing of California Roll, Spider Maki, Yellow Tail and Ebi. (If you don't eat sushi, that was all gibberish to you. If you do, it was sooooo good.) I didn't eat any wasabi in order to avoid any sort of embarrassment that could come with a burning mouth, burning ass, upset stomach, and so on. Oddly, Sara got another text half way through dinner. We were in the middle of eating and not really talking, so she took a quick look at her phone and put it away. (At this point, I'm hoping the texts are nothing important. Maybe she's getting Fantasy Sports alerts. Yeah, that's probably not it.)

Following dinner we went to see "The Tourist". Awful. The movie was just plain awful. Good actors, terrible storyline. Do not ever see this movie. In fact, I would suggest burning any posters you see of this movie to save everyone else the pain we felt. You cannot advertise your movie as an action film if your only real action scene involves someone trying to get away on a boat that goes 15mph and people are keeping up with you on foot. And unless you are Darth Vader, I'm pretty sure in order to choke someone properly you aren't supposed to have an inch of space between the rope and the person's neck. Sara got a phone call during the movie, looked at her phone, and hit ignore. She apologized for the interruption. (Okay, the date feels like it is going okay, but clearly something is up with the texts and phone calls. I don't need a college degree to know that something is off.)

After the movie I decided to buck up and ask Sara about the phone call/texts.
Me: Is everything okay? Seems like someone is trying to get in touch with you.
Sara: Sorry. Don't worry about it. A friend of mine is just being annoying.
(And that person isn't me. Yay me! Yay me dance! It's my birthday! ... ahem, sorry, got a little carried away there in my head. Where was I? 1992?)

So as we're driving back to Sara's place, I can already feel myself getting nervous and prepping for what I am hoping will be our first kiss (...or more. I only forgot to open one door, so maybe that earns me a handy. Kidding... kind of. I'd be perfectly happy with just a kiss. I really like this girl.)  But just as we are pulling up to her apartment...

Sara: Oh fuck.
Me: What? What just happened? Everything okay?
Sara: No. Apparently not. See that car in my driveway? (I nod.) That's my ex-boyfriend's car. He's the one who has been texting and calling me all night. I am really really sorry.
Me: Um... is there anything I can do? Do you want me to take you someplace else?
Sara: No. It's okay. I don't even know why he is here. I'll just go in and deal with him.
Me: I was going to walk you to your door. Do you want me to still walk you to your door?
Sara: Aw. That is really sweet of you, but I think the mood has just been spoiled. I really did have fun tonight, even if the movie was awful. Give me a call later this week?
Me: Absolutely. I had a great time too. Good luck.

And with that, we both leaned in towards each other and had a long kiss. With the sudden stress put on the situation, it wasn't the best kiss in the world, but it still ranked up there in my book. I'm pretty sure we both felt that special spark in the kiss.

So even when I finally manage to not screw something up with this girl, somebody else sweeps in and puts a damper on a beautiful evening. Such is the life of Nicholas Nobody.