The dating game for me, Sam Chapin, recently got reignited, though it was a low flame that was extinguished within 5 minutes, if that. The woman came, sat, got mildly psycho, then left. She made a pretty clear implication that she was prepared to do me a sexual service if I asked nicely. Now, a lot of guys would jump at that opportunity, and the woman seemed like she'd be pleasant enough to 'jump', so to speak. That said, after a recent split up of a long term marriage, I'm leery of just jumping back into a scene I haven't been in for a couple of decades.
About 5 days after that disaster, my friend Gil stopped in my office. A bit younger and thinner than me, and never married, he was proud of playing the field whenever he was in the mood...and the mood hit him and his loins a few times a week. "Hey, you never told me how it went with Wendy!"
I studied a sheet of data as I replied. "It really didn't."
"Huh?"
"It was the quickest 5 minutes of hell I can remember aside from signing away my marriage."
Gil sat. "Aw man, what happened?"
I finally looked up. "Apparently I'm in need of getting laid, according to you."
Gil held up his hands in defense. "Hey, I was just trying to sell the idea of you to her. Did she actually repeat that?"
"Sure did. I was taken aback and probably reacted more honestly than necessary, but seeing that she's not a meat eater, I don't think we would have connected well, so no harm, no foul. That said, in the future don't advertise my lapses in the sack, it draws the wrong crowds."
He nodded in thought. "Good point. Want me to keep looking?"
"Not really. I need to get in touch with me a bit more before unleashing myself on the unsuspecting female population."
Gil knocked on the desk, grinned, then left. A few minutes later, I felt a buzz on my phone. I looked...it was a response to an email I'd sent weeks ago to an old friend. Well, not exactly in the normal sense, just a friend of a friend on social media. She liked my shared warped memes and made a friend request years ago. It was strange, that social media world. So many political opinions and bantering. I was in a few groups for discussion, but often had to leave due to negative tangents.
I looked at the email. It was a woman named Donna, friends with a co-worker named Valerie. I'd asked if she had some movies we'd discussed in messenger. The reply I was reading indicated she wanted to talk in person. This was a tough one. While she might be a nice person to meet, I didn't want to kill something good and anonymous.
Putting the phone away, I walked down the hall and entered what I dubbed "Cubicle City" where Valerie worked. I found her at her computer. "Hey."
She looked up at me with her curly brown hair and glasses and smiled. "Hey you! What brings you down here?"
"A question. Do you know Donna personally?"
"Donna? Yeah, we do drinks after work every now and then. We hit up a male strip joint last month for the hell of it." She laughed at the memory. "I don't think her lap dance expected that big a tip!"
I grinned. "She into that stuff?"
"Eh, not sure. Like I said, we tried it just to try it." She tilted her head a bit. "Why do you ask?"
I showed her the email. "Took me by surprise, but I wanted a slant on her before I responded either way."
Val looked at it and shrugged. "I can't really advise you there, apart from saying she's a nice person. But I know your situation right now and I'm not really sure what you're after."
I shrugged as well and smiled. "Me neither. Catch you later."
At 7:00p.m. three days later, I sat at Joe's, a local hangout that does trivia one night a week. Joe himself, a 60ish guy who reminded me a bit of Howard Cosell with a toupee, brought me a vodka tonic. "How's it hangin', Sam?"
"Same ol."
"Eating anything tonight? Got a salmon filet on special."
"I might later, not sure. Meeting someone soon."
He whistled. "Isn't that a kick? I thought you'd be down for a while."
"I might still be." As I took a pull on my drink, I saw the door open. In came a thin woman with straight black hair. She was wearing tight jeans and a blue t-shirt, quite casual. That was ok, Joe's was a casual place. She looked around, much less awkwardly than Wendy had, spotted me, and held up a finger as she headed to the restroom.
After about ten minutes, she approached me again and waved. "Hi."
"Hello. Donna?"
"That's me, and you must be Sam."
"Definitely me. Would you like to sit here or at a table?"
She looked around. "How about we stay here for a minute?"
"Sure. Can I get you a drink?"
"I can get my own," she said, but with no vehrmence. I shrugged in acceptance as she ordered a chardonnay from Joe. As she awaited her drink, she turned to me. "I bet you were surprised I made this suggestion."
I grinned. "Well, you suggested meeting, I sugested the place."
She looked around for a moment, then took her glas of wine from Joe. She sipped it, and made a small mmm sound. "I needed this today." She put her glass on the bar. "Well, my life is complicated. I do a little of this and that for a living, a lot of driving and phone and computer work. I like it that way, staying busy, you know?"
"I do, but you don't need to justify yourself."
"In a way, I do. You see, I don't usually seek people and they generally don't seek me, partially because I'm hard to pin down."
"Valerie says you see each other fairly regularly."
"Maybe once a month, twice if we're lucky.She's easy to get along with and doesn't get all serious on me, you know?"
"I don't think I do."
"I've had a few 'girlfriends' over the years and they want to get into my head, like we'll be lifelong buds if they know my innermost thoughts. Valerie just wants to have fun and that's perfect for me."
I nodded as I took a pull. "I can see that. Being newly divorced, I don't want anyone in my head so much right now."
Donna looked at me a moment as though trying to make a decision. "What about someone in your, or their, bed?"
I shrugged. "That's fine, as long as it's not pushed upon me."
She laughed. "Guys don't usually say or even think that."
"I'm not in my 20s anymore, 30s for that matter. The virtue of patience has grown with recent events."
She nodded and smiled, then pulled some DVDs out of her purse. "These are for you."
I looked at them. Some Bogart, Poitier, and the director's cut of Eyes Wide Shut, all things we'd discussed. "You own these?"
"No, you do."
"Why thank you! A pleasant surprise indeed! I feel bad for not having anything for you."
Donna took the seat next to me. "I think we can discuss that for another time, but not tonight. You're very likeable, and I think we have another time waiting for us."
I couldn't help a smile. "You're likeable as well. I don't suppose you are hungry?"
"I am. Let's get a table and eat."
To be continued.....
