The Third Date

Gary and Pete had known each other since Grammar School and now that they each graduated college and got jobs in the city, they decided to share a two bedroom apartment, which cut down on all of the commuting hassles from the suburbs. They each had their own privacy and they split all the bills.  Gary had always been a ladies’ man and Pete was a bit shy, so Gary was getting a lot of action and Pete concentrated on his career.  Gary had asked Pete many times when he was going to find a girl, so they could go out on a double date and have fun.

One morning in the kitchen Pete told Gary that he had found a nice girl and tonight was going to be their third date.  Gary said, “Have you made a move on her yet?”  Pete said, “Of course not, as we are still getting to know each other.”  Gary said, “If you snooze, you lose, and if you want to get to know this girl better because you find that she is interesting, you must make her aware of your intentions.  It serves no purpose at all to wait, aside from giving some other dude the opportunity to ask her out while you’re being indecisive.  As soon as an attraction is made you must react or she may see you as not being confident enough to be with.  Many guys take too long to approach a girl because they are afraid to pull the trigger and when they finally get up enough nerve, the girl has already been swooped up by someone else.  When a girl is interested in you, delaying will only frustrate her, bore her, or make her think you aren’t attracted to her.  If you meet a girl that you like, then you must touch her, start making physical advances, get that first kiss before you will be able to have sex with her.”

Pete said, “Gary I hear what you are saying, but I am not like you.  Things are going fine with us and I hope to get the green light to make my move tonight.”  Gary replied, “Most girls know within 15 minutes after meeting a guy, if they are destined to just become a friend or if they will be a potential for romantic interest.  You need to act fast before you find yourself being stuck in the friend zone forever!  If you let too much time go by without telling her how you feel about her, than there is a good chance that she will only want you as a friend and if you complain, then you will lose her for good.  If she decides that you’re her friend, then you are doomed to remain as being close friends, you will no longer be considered as being a sexual entity, because in her eyes, she sees you like her brother, or just someone she can hang out with.  You might keep telling yourself that it is getting better and that one day you will be getting some loving, but that will never happen.”

Pete said, “I saw her in the supermarket and I thought that I would try to make her laugh.  She was in the fruit section near some apples, so I asked her whether she thought the best tasting apples were red, yellow or green.”  She smiled at me and said, “Aren’t you sweet, however I am not sure about the color, but the best tasting apples are the ones that are baked into pies.”  Pete said, “We hit it off right away and it seemed easy for me to be myself around her.  I was able to keep her attention and I remembered to look into her eyes when she was talking to me and I made sure that I kept on smiling.  I asked her for her number so we could make a date for lunch, coffee, bowling, mini golf, or whatever.”  She said, “Won’t you need my name first?”  That made me laugh and then I introduced myself to her.  She grabbed my cell out of my pocket and entered her name Maria and her number into my contacts and said, “Call me.”

“I called her the next day and we decided to go see a movie together and we held hands in the theater.  After the movie was over we went to the Cheesecake Factory where we each enjoyed some desert and coffee.  I was real happy because I thought that this went well and there were no awkward moments to speak of.  Then at the end of the date I drove her back to her place and she grabbed my hand and she said, “Thank you, I had a great time and I would love to see you again.”

Pete continued, “I was a bit disappointed as I had intended on kissing her when I dropped her off, but I thought that we were gradually and smoothly building a connection and at least we were going to have another date and maybe I would have better luck next time.  I knew that on our next date that I would have to get her to open up more with me and get her to trust me, so that we could create a deeper connection and I could determine if she did have any sexual interest in me.  I asked Maria if she would like to go to an amusement park and we had a great time.  I was able to hold hands with her, put my arm around her and we even kissed at the top of the Ferris wheel.  We ate, we walked, we talked and we really got to know each other and I did kiss her as I dropped her off at the end of our date.  Wish me luck on my date with her tonight, as I am sure that she is the one for me.”

The next morning Gary saw Pete in the kitchen and Gary said, “Did you score?” Pete said, “Things went real well, but I am not the kind of guy that kisses and tells.”  Just then Maria walked into the kitchen wearing one of Pete’s work shirts and she said, “Is the coffee ready yet?”  Pete said, “It looks like you got the green light.”

Written for 3/17/18 Linda G. Hill’s ‘Life in progress’ Stream of Consciousness Saturday where the prompt is “green”.