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.
