I have lots to write but no time at the present. I’ll try to get to it very soon. Just to give you a taste of what’s to come, here are some of the exciting developments of late.
1. Tweed has returned.
2. The first Sunday back saw continued flirting with Swish.
3. I had a date.
4. There was another dance on Friday.
5. The Slacker (my cute classmate) split-up from his girlfriend over Christmas.
(This actually happened the Friday before I went home for Christmas. I'm back in England now and Operation 2nd Date is in the planning stages. Stay tuned.)
Hello ladies and gentlemen. I have some good news. Swish and I had a date-ish. Our mutual friend called us each individually to see if we wanted to go to a movie with him and his girlfriend. So it was a setup…of two people who already knew each other…by someone they both knew. They do things a bit differently here on a number of accounts. First, and most frustrating, they don’t just casually date. If you ask someone out, it’s tantamount to a declaration of love. As you may well imagine, that puts a damper on the amount of dating people do. How do people find each other, you may wonder. I haven’t figured that out yet, but I will let you know. Also frustrating is the fact that they all know each other and each other’s past so there are lots of off-limits people. The English grapevine is much higher developed than even the Utah Mormon grapevine. People are always watching and they will tell on you.
Anyway, back to the “date.” The plan was for us to go to dinner and then a movie, which was perfect. I began planning my outfit for maximum hotness. Truth be told, I was feeling a little nervous and awkward. Part of the problem was that I didn’t know what Swish’s understanding of the evening was. I didn’t know if he thought it was a date or just a group of friends hanging out, so I didn’t want to make it seem like I thought there was more to it than there was. But I also wanted him to think I was fun and into him so he would want to spend more time together in the future. So complicated! I was also feeling awkward since, being award of the English aversion to dates, I knew there was a lot riding on this one evening. Well, it turns out that most of my worrying was in vain. Swish ended up having to stay later at the lab (he’s getting a Master’s in chemistry) so we just did the movie. When we arrived at Swish’s house, they made me go to the door, which made me feel awkward. Then I didn’t know which of the three doorbells was for his apartment so I went back to the car whereupon I was forced to call him, which also made me feel awkward. When he got in the car, he informed us all that he had had an allergic reaction to the chemicals he was working with that day. The skin on his face was red and a little flaky, but not too bad. I felt sorry for him and thought to myself that if it had been me I would have cancelled the date. (That could be because I base my self-esteem on my physical appearance, but whatever.) We proceeded to the movie, which was hilarious and, from my point of view, we had a good time. There was a good bit of teasing and flirting, but it was a little less effortless than it had been in our previous interactions. I think we were both a little unsure of just what the situation was and it sort of put us off our game. It could also have been the chemical reaction all over his face. I guess we’ll never know. Afterward, we went for ice cream and he paid for mine, so, as per Elder Oaks 3 Ps, I’ve been on a date with Swish. Now the question remains as to how to get to date two.
