Emotional Slip Ups Can be Funny, Right?

I hemmed and hawed over the weekend before whether I should cancel my Valentine’s Day date or not, but Mark promised he had this great place to go that wasn’t romantic at all and offered amazing Chinese food, so I agreed. We picked a time and decided to meet after work at the T station closest to the restaurant, which was in Chinatown.

How is it possible, by the way, that I love Chinese food so much and yet have never eaten at a place actually in Chinatown?! It was like a 15 minute walk from my office.

Due to my intolerable appearance on the Wednesday before, I decided it would be best to look presentable and put on some makeup. I brought it to work with me and put it just a little on before leaving the office for the day. One of my coworkers caught me applying some eyeliner and I had to admit that I had a date that night, although I didn’t mention specifics.  They know how much I hate Valentine’s Day in the office, and I was embarrassed to admit I was excited about a date.

When we got to this place, you guys, it was INCREDIBLE.  I have provided a photo so that you can understand the glory of this amazing place.

I feel like this picture only really shows half the room, but it was the best I could do.

And to top it all off, when we showed up there was only 1 other group dining.  By the time we left (when I insisted on taking this photo) it had picked up a bit, as you can tell.Anyway, we ordered some food, family style, and ate and laughed and had a really nice time.  We made fun of the weird drinks on the menu and tried guessing what was on that “stage” back there.

After dinner, as planned, we went to the Beantown Pub to watch the SU game (who, btw, was playing West Virginia.  As I still was texting pretty steadily with Paul, I did not let that go unnoticed).  Although there was some important BC hockey game on, Mark convinced one of the bartenders to turn on the game at the corner where we were sitting.  About half way through beer #2 (which was really beer #3, because we’d both had a drink at dinner), Mark asked:

“Is this a date?”

“I don’t know. Do you want it to be a date?”

I wasn’t really sure what was going on, every time we’d hung out I’d had a really awesome time. But he had yet to try anything, and I was still all a mess over Paul.  We just kind of let the subject drop and went back to chit chat about the game. When he waved the bartender over and ordered us another round of beer, I said:

“Ok, this can be a date if you want it to be.  I’m ok with that.”

And he leaned over and kissed me. It was a good kiss.

After SU won and we finished the last of the beer, we headed to the T to get home.  I was a little worried about the commute back, as he lives only 1 T stop past me. We were going to have to ride together.

Sometimes I get weird anxiety about riding the T with people I don’t know so well.  You’re trapped in that car! What if it gets awkward …..

But I had nothing to worry about.  We sat down on the car, and across the aisle and down a bit there was a teenage couple groping each other, drunk with the love of the evening, I would assume.  We spent most of the riding making fun of them and awkwardly half holding hands. At the stop before mine I mentioned that we’d have to figure out something to do, because I wanted to kiss him good night, but we couldn’t be hypocrites and we had different stops.  So he said:

“That’s ok.  I’ll walk you home.”

SWOOOOOON.  (I was especially grateful because it was getting late and the neighborhood has an issue, as I’ve mentioned.) So he walked me home.  I was tempted to invite him in, but I decided against it. It was a school night, after all, and I was confused about liking him so much with Paul still on my mind.  Instead, we made out for a wonderfully long time on my front stoop. It was kind of perfect, really.

THEN (this is where the title of this post comes into play) when I got up to bed I noticed I had missed a text from Paul, asking how my night went. I mentioned “this awful day” and he wanted to know why it was so terrible and drunk Lizzie texted back “ITS VALENTINES DAY AND I HATE IT AND THE GUY I’M IN LOVE WITH IS 1000 MILES AWAY.” I really wanted to include “OF COURSE IT SUCKS YOU ASS” but I didn’t. Ok, maybe I was fishing for at least something along the “I miss you too” line, but I didn’t get anything even close to it AT ALL and so I started crying and then went into the bathroom and threw up my dinner.

I blame beer #3, which I also credit for at least that first kiss with Mark. So it’s a draw, really.