Something you might not know about me, is that for the past 8 years, I have always had many roommates... the most at one time was 8 (that means 9 girls in 1 house!) and I believe I have always been the oldest, at least by a couple years. With that many girls, I don't think we had any other choice but to talk about guys on a pretty regular basis. And being the oldest, the others always wanted to set me up on dates.
I don't know how many times in my life I've been asked if I'm willing to go on a blind date. My response is always the same... Of course I'm willing!
I realize that my pool of potential boyfriends is greatly expanded if I can multiply it by my friends' friends!
My "date" with Keith is the result of one such statement. Two of my roommates went to the same church and recently had gotten to interact with Keith. They thought very highly of him... and since he was clearly older than either of them, that meant he would be perfect for me, right?
Well, they talked to me first, to see if I was open to meeting him... then they talked to Keith to see if he wanted to meet me. My response? You guessed it- Of course I'm willing!
Keith's response? Sure... but as long as our meeting wasn't going to be a date. That would be too much pressure and he was wary of getting into another serious relationship. In order to make sure it wasn't a date, he said he would like to meet me in a group setting... at some activity or event that was already happening that we both happened to attend.
I thought I was just agreeing to a date, so I'm glad he had the foresight to put the brakes on before we met! (I hope by now you can hear the sarcasm in that statement.) After all, who would want that burden and weight on their shoulders? It would be crushing.
Well, my roommates didn't know of any actual natural reason my path & Keith's would cross, so they decided to create this "natural" setting, by inviting us both to lunch at Chipotle after church. They wanted to make sure it wasn't awkward with just the two of them and me & Keith, so they invited other mutual friends. In the end, there were probably about 15 people who came... and they ALL knew that this lunch was for the sole purpose of Keith & I meeting! (Possibly with the exception of Keith)
Talk about awkward! I can handle blind dates... I can handle group dates... But a blind date with an audience?! At the same table?! I don't know anyone who could make that seem natural.
We stood in line, ordered our burritos, tacos, & bowls, and as we all sat down my roommates made sure to point out a seat for me in the middle of the tables, right across from where they told Keith to sit. Keith and I had a great conversation and it was actually relatively enjoyable... then I started getting distracted by the conversations surrounding me.
I first heard one friend say my name, but when I looked in her direction I knew she was talking ABOUT me and not TO me. Then, I heard my name again... and Keith's name... and my name again. We were the center of EVERY conversation at that table, but were not a part of any conversation... except our own... despite both of us trying to include others in our discussion.
We sat at Chipotle for 2 hours, talked about a variety of topics... and we were being analyzed the entire time. I tried SO hard to focus on Keith, but must admit that I was probably the bad date (or non-date) that day, since I kept turning my eyes every time I heard my name.
I don't know whether or not Keith noticed, but I'm pretty sure the setting added more pressure to our meeting than just going on a simple coffee date... just the two of us... without the live studio audience sitting at our table.
No comments:
Post a Comment