A Tale of Two Sittings

(www.charles-dickens.org)

This is my first blog on demand. After reading the Red Hot posting, my colleague and #1 fashion consultant begged me to write the foreshadowed post about the person who doesn’t do his research. The person in question is her BOYFRIEND (he is – deal with it, Hon). Since she takes pictures, tells me I’m cute, and plays a starring role, I thought I’d comply. I’m getting bored with calling her my colleague, but she’s not ready to be named directly on a blog. Let’s call her Sue because it’s quick to type.

It was the best of times…

Sue had recently started dating someone. After interrupting many a text conversation, I met him over cosmos at Sue’s place while we were playing hooky from a meeting on our day off. He’s a great guy, and we had a good time.


(www.itsfinished.com)

Sue had already told me that Bob had a gay friend. Since SHE had a gay friend, and HE had a gay friend, they naturally assumed that we would meet and hook up, since any two gay men within 10 feet of each other have to f---.

Actually, Sue and Bob weren’t that bad about it, but it amazes me how many people will set up any two gay people without discussing anything else they might have in common. Have you ever said, “I have a straight male friend you should meet”? OK, this is often said to women in San Francisco, but nowhere else.


As part of this, Sue and Bob wanted to have their first Castro outing. The plan was to meet for dinner at The Sausage Factory and then go out for drinks. The three of us arrived, got a table in the back, and had a drink. My blind date (we’ll call him Chris) showed up before our first drinks were gone, well within the fashionably late range.

He may not actually be the cutest guy in the world (WCB and Wentworth Miller are right there with him), but he was almost exactly my type. Gorgeous smile. At one point he said, “I have the best dentist.”

“Obviously”, I said.

He kept talking for a second, paused, and flashed the pearly whites. Then, with a hint of a blush and awww…shucks head tilt, he said “Thanks”. Joel, you sly devil.

I could have stared at that smile for hours, but then he couldn’t have talked much, and it turns out he’s a GREAT conversationalist. We quickly left the first date approved topics (e.g., weather, entertainment, work) and launched into politics, values, and religion. It turns out he’s also from western PA, so we matched up pretty well. We even shared some of our entrees.

After dinner, we headed out for drinks. We stopped in at the Mix to hang out on the patio (and show off the fact that I have friends). Bob wanted to take Sue dancing, so we got in line at The Café, thinking that Sue wouldn’t be the only woman there. Unfortunately for us, The Café is now Boy Bar on Fridays. We bailed and went for more drinks at Lime.


(www.lime-sf.com)

…It was the worst of times

The level of flirtation rose in proportion to our Blood Alcohol Levels. By drink two, I occasionally found it necessary to grab Chris’s leg at particularly stirring moments in the conversation. He didn’t seem to mind. By drink three we were pretty much in eye-lock -- partially out of interest, and partially to avoid intruding on our straight friends, who were necking. The breeders bought Chris and I one last round and left for home. By now we had joined the mutual admiration society and had the big shovels out:

“You look like you work out.”

“I do, but I’m still too fat.”

“No, you’re not. You’ll hate me, but I can’t ever seem to put on weight.”

“You don’t need to put on weight. You’re gorgeous now.”

Yada. Yada. Yada.

Then a speechless moment and a stare right out of Casablanca…and a brief, sweet kiss with lips barely brushing…and then...CUT!

Suddenly, Chris drew back, and gave me a strange look.

“Conflicted, you appear,” I assessed, doing my best Yoda imitation.

“That’s a good way to put it.”

“Why are you conflicted?” Y’all know what’s coming. I did.

“Ummm…I have a boyfriend.”


(www.tvsquad.com)

This led to a discussion about the man and the relationship that was probably far longer than necessary. Then, despite the above revelation, he took my phone number and gave me his, spying into my display to ensure I spelled his first AND last name right. Then he said he still wanted to get together to take Sue and Bob to El Rio Sunday.

We parted ways after 0200 outside of Lime. By 0202, Sue had a text with the relevant summary and I was on my way home in a cab.

EPILOGUE
Naturally, the events were discussed quite a bit at work the next week. Sue, now known as the Yenta From Hell, took it well. And she did a little digging. Turns out Bob did not know Chris had a boyfriend – he just assumed he didn’t because he hadn’t when they worked together and he hadn’t mentioned anything. Also, it turns out that Chris may not have know it was a set up – apparently Bob just said they would meet for drinks and Sue and I would be there. Then, later, he changed it to dinner. Bob also apparently met the BF, and thinks he a nice guy, and, not surprisingly, a big white guy.

Even I have trouble putting a positive spin on this. Most people say he’s not worth it, because he went on a set up when he had a BF. Even those willing to consider that he didn’t know it was a set up think he probably realized it at some point, should have mentioned the BF much earlier, and probably left with Bob.

Send along you opinion, especially if you can rationalize a way that I can date him should he become single. IOFD, For my part, I’ve chucked logic and texted him a couple of times. He returned the second one, but we haven’t spoken.

People say there’s someone out there for everyone. It’s supposed to be encouraging. No one thinks about how it sounds when you think you’ve met that person, but been a victim of timing. It sucks!