The Boy

What I forgot to mention last time was that just before I fell asleep that night, I did text that young man, just to tell him I was home safe and sound.

By doing so, of course, I was also giving him my number. Which he used to reply the next day, apologizing for having been so drunk and asking whether he'd said something inappropriate. I assured him he hadn't so he replied again to ask if we could meet up again.

I didn't know quite how to react, I hadn't been that intrigued on our firs encounter and felt as if I should take a breathing pause after Carl, even though I wasn't exactly heart broken. But then I reminded myself to keep an open mind and not only look for fireworks and excitement, i.e. not base my entire judgement on first impression only.

So I told him, truthfully, that I was going to the theatre with my friend (Hannah) that very evening and afterwards, we'd probably pop in somewhere for a drink or two. If he were on his way out that evening too, he'd be welcome to stop by.

That way, the ball was in his court completely and if he showed up I would get the chance to check him out properly. It would also be great to get a second opinion from Hannah. If he didn't show up, I'd still have a great night and need never to think about him again.

However, he did text me and ask which bar we were at...and then showed up. His mates were at another place, he had left them to come and see me. I thought that was sweet.  His name was Eddie and he was a cook. We chatted for a few minutes and I could see Hannah watching his every move and listening to his every word to collect data for her final ruling. 

Eddie turned out to be quite an agreeable young man, the crucial word here being 'young'. Even though he didn't sound extremely boyish, I was pretty sure he was no more than 25. So I curiously asked him how old he thought I was?
He grinned triumphantly and replied with the exact correct answer. My reaction was to become slightly offended, as a lady would but also because usually people think I'm much younger than I am. The incredibly vain me thought frantically 'OMG are my looks fading so quickly?' but before I started to scream, Eddie continued by reciting the short version of my bio. Yes, he had Googled me.

This time I didn't know whether to be flattered or scared. It's nice to know that someone's interested enough to look you up on the Internet...but it would be more classy if he had kept it to himself. As we, girls, do all the time!

So, he already knew that I was exactly ten years his senior. And that didn't stop him. How sweet!

A few moments later, he decided to go to the other bar and get his friends to come over. Me and Hannah looked at each other when he'd left and she nodded agreeingly, ruling that he did in fact make a good impression. And I'm sure she found it added weight that there was no chance in hell he had dated her aunt at some point.

Half an hour later, Eddie turned up with three of his mates. They'd obviously been passing time by drinking while we had done more talking than drinking. So they were...rather upbeat, to say the least. They were loud, goofy and, well, funny, to some extent although I think I recall hearing a fart joke. Yes.
And Eddie? He thought they were funny too. So suddenly, Hannah and I had a group of loud, crude, young adults by our table. We smiled politely at the boys and made our excuses, we couldn't stay out late on a Thursday night as we both had to get up early for work. 

I could just hear how terribly grown up we sounded, but didn't care at this point. Any ideas I might have had about taking a young lover seemed as silly now as the jokes those little boys were cracking as we left the bar.