Chapter 5: A Rainy Sunday kind of Date
I wake up to the sound of rain against my window. I don’t particularly like November; it’s a cold, sad, dark and rainy month. Night falls around 4 pm, it’s super depressing. you never know how to dress because in the morning it’s freezing, then it gets warmer around noon (if it’s not a cloudy day), but by 2 it’s back to freezing cold. Plus, when you’re a student, November is finals month. So when you pile that on top of the bad weather and the depressing feeling the cold brings, November kinda sucks. I guess the only good thing about November is the insane amount of birthday parties (thank you Valentine’s Day!). I’ve been invited to 5 birthday parties so far, one every weekend till the end of November. On top of work and school, I’m left with very little time to date. I did manage to go out for coffee with this girl last week, and she invited me over to her place today to watch movies. So, for once, the sound of rain against my window doesn’t depress me, because it fits perfectly with the day I’m about to have: a rainy second date day with a really cute girl!
I met her on this app (obvs.) last week, and we haven’t stopped texting since. We went for coffee on Thursday, and it was nice but not amazing. I was really enjoying our date, but I sort of felt like she wasn’t really into it. But then she texted me a day later asking if I wanted to come over to her place and watch movies, so I guess she likes me too! Maybe she’s just not super expressive with her feelings. Anyway, that’s where I’m heading today. And I’m going to need a lot of coffee to survive this cold and rainy day!
I’m cold the second I leave my apartment. Three steps outside and it feels like my bones have been put in a freezer and then put back inside me…Thank you humidity for that. My hair will be ruined by the time I get there, my feet are already all wet because I stepped into a puddle, but at least I wore waterproof mascara! I follow the directions Google Maps is giving me and finally reach her place. I knock twice on the door and try to control my shivers as I wait for her to open the door. It’s not normal to be this cold right now, it’s not even snowing!! I guess my body is just not used to it yet.
She opens the door and smiles at me. Her brown hair is tied up in a messy bun and she’s wearing pajamas, yet she stills looks amazing! Goals!
-Hey, she says, come on in! You look like you’re freezing!
-I definitely am!
She closes the door behind me and I get a look at her apartment. It isn’t shaped like most Montreal apartments, which are usually more long than wide. Her apartment is like a rectangle split in 3. The first smaller rectangle is the living room, then the kitchen, and finally her bedroom and the bathroom. It’s pretty big though, and nicely decorated. The first thing that catches my attention is the Harry Potter pillows, and her coffee table, which is covered in drawings.
-I didn’t know what kind of snacks you liked, she says, so I thought we could go out and get some.
-Sure! But can we wait another 5 minutes before we go, I’m still cold!
She laughs and hugs me to help me warm up. As she hugs me, I smell her perfume for the first time, and it smells almost too good to be true: a mix of birthday cake and peaches. I could drown in that smell! Eventually she pulls away, put’s her coat on and off we go. We walk a street corner to the nearest drugstore, and raid the snack section. We get back to her place with two bags full, because having too many snacks is always better! She opens Netflix and we start debating what movie we should watch.
-Do you want to watch a rom-com, a horror movie, science-fiction?
-What about a classic, I ask, like Harry Potter?!
-Or Lord of the Rings, she adds.
-I’ve actually never seen the Lord of the Rings!
She looks up at me, her face showing complete disbelief.
-Well, that’s what we’re watching then, no choice!
I laugh, then try to convince her to watch something else, but she won’t budge. She ends up starting the movie, completely ignoring my efforts to make her change her mind, so I give up. We both sit on the couch at a reasonable distance from one another. I can’t concentrate on the movie because all I’m thinking about is the fact that she’s sitting next to me. She moves in a little closer and my heart loses it cool. It starts beating so fast and loudly it could win against a marching band in a game of “who’s the loudest”!
Why do I still get this nervous around girls! It’s maddening! It doesn’t matter the number of girls I date, I still can’t feel at ease, or normal, around cute girls. She moves in a little closer again and I reach for her hand. We hold hands for a while, watching the movie. But I don’t like the movie and the girl next to me is making my heart go wild, so I turn my head to the side to look at her instead of the tv. She looks at me, and I stop thinking for a second. I lean in and kiss her. Some people could say that I’m very confident, or that I have balls for making the first move, but that’s so far from the truth. The truth is, if I hadn’t made the first move, I probably would have liquefied because I was that nervous! My heart would have jumped out of my chest like in that adorable short movie In a Heartbeat by Beth David and Esteban Bravo.
I pull away and look at her, smiling. She smiles too. Neither of us says anything, we just stay there, looking at each other. I finally look away because I know I can feel myself blushing. My eyes land on this sharpie on the coffee table. I grab it, take the cap off and start drawing on her table, like so many people did before me. Some just signed, but there are some really good drawings on that table, like a big elephant covered in funky patterns, and a field of flowers. I draw the same thing I drew in my sketchbook a few days ago, and add my favorite quote of all time. When I’m finished, she reads it out loud.
-Listen, there’s a hell of a good universe next door, let’s go.
-Okay, I answer, smiling.
Truth or fiction? ;)
Images obtained from:
http://40.media.tumblr.com/7887643d79ea5a776c6528fc28ddcc35/tumblr_nwrqo4JaBO1srufizo1_1280.jpg
https://66.media.tumblr.com/6c6dd8147a322a087d345ff2de0d6ab5/tumblr_oklfwuDoo71rvrlqeo1_500.jpg
http://www.unechicgeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/cocooning-couette.jpg