Last night was the closest thing to a date I've had in a long, loooong time. But technically speaking it was not a date, nor did I attend it that way.
Remember the ex-coworker I asked out over email? Well he contacted me again in that friendly how have you been way that is just so suggestive of interest! I told him I was doing well and really loving working for myself and he replied that he was thinking about heading down that route and he'd love to maybe get together and ask me a million questions.
So last night we met up over dinner in the village.
He's still cute. And also still 10 years younger. Sigh. Anyway, I surprised myself by not being nervous in the slightest. I did tell myself though the entire time between when he suggested getting together and when we met that it was not a date, it was simply a casual get together to chat about work. I gave him a hug and a greeting kiss on the cheek when we met, since I do that a lot with people (male and female) I haven't seen in a long time. We sat down and since he still works at the company we had a lot to catch up on. It sounds as if he's exactly where I was before I quit. It's so sad because this company has such potential to be a really exciting, fun, creative place to work, but because the higher ups are all egomaniacal ass hats who care more about enforcing their own opinions than the actual output of work none of the worker bees have a chance to really flourish.
Anyway, it was comfortable and fun to talk with him, though I think I probably did a lot of the talking for once, and when we were done and standing outside the restaurant he asked what I was doing next. Because I am not a fast thinker on my feet I just told the truth, I was going home. I know many of you are shaking your head- this was the perfect place to flirt or even ask if he wanted to get a drink or dessert, but I just wasn't sure. If he had proposed it, I would have said yes. He mentioned a place that had great Philly cheese steaks down the block (which was clearly not an ask to extend our time together as we had just finished a huge dinner) to which I unveiled my non-red meat or dairy diet. Debbie Downer much? He seemed so excited about it...
Then he walked me to my subway and I gave him another hug, but this time without the goodbye cheek kiss- However, he gave me one. I don't know why but I always do that. If someone doesn't also kiss me in greeting, I feel weird about it and I don't do it again during the goodbye. But 9 out of 10 times I will get the goodbye kiss and so I feel like an ass for not. Oh social customs and self-confidence, can't you just stick to one method and go with it?
Overall it was a really nice night out, maybe more so because I didn't feel the pressure of being on an actual date, but in the end it makes me sad that I'm not out on the town more, with a male of course. Shocking.
I'm not sure how he felt about the whole thing- I mean I think he had a nice time, but I wonder if that ask about what I was doing next had some subtext to it. It's only natural I suppose. I don't know if he's still seeing the girl he was seeing when I asked him out. We didn't venture into that area and I was not about to ask. I'm fighting a bit of an internal war about how young he is and if I want to attempt to start anything since we're at such different stages in our lives.
But I will say yes if he does contact me again and asks to go on a proper date.
