And Then He Kissed Me! Part two

Exactly 13 years ago, from today, the "plumber guy" and I went on our first date. At this time I did not know that my landlord, his wife, and the "plumber guy" had concocted a clever little plan to create this event. They had succeeded at their plan, and now it was up to the "plumber guy" to work his magic.

The whole day was filled with nervous, excitement. While I was working hard as a technical support technician, thingy, person, for an internet service, a message appeared on the computer monitor.

"If you would like to clock out early, please notify a manager by sending an e-mail."


"Perfect!" I thought. "I can leave work early and have more time to get ready for my date."

Then another message appeared on my monitor.

" Jennifer, please come to the manager's desk."

I gathered my things and went to the manager's desk. I recognized this manager, but I never talked to him before.

Then he told me, "I'm Steve's friend. The guy that you are going on a date with tonight. My father-in-law is your landlord. I just wanted to meet you and tell you that Steve's a real nice guy."

"Oh, well it's nice to meet you. See ya later." (What's with everyone trying to sell this guy to me?)

I'm pretty sure he was checking me out to see if I was suitable for "plumber guy".

I got home and tried to pick the perfect outfit for this first date. The "plumber" never told me what we were going to do on our first date, so the options of appropriate apparel were endless.

• Dress or skirt? Hmmmm.... maybe we are going to see an opera? Doubtful.
• Cutest jeans that made my rear look noticeable, yet, not too large and a simple tee? Hmmmm... maybe we were going to go to a rodeo and I should don a pair of cowboy boots? Very doubtful.
• Shorts. My cute pair of jean shorts that showed off some leg. Better not, he's a M.I.G. (man in g's) and not ready for that kind of action.
• Sweats. Maybe we were going to go to the gym and work out? With that body, he definitely works out. NO WAY! I refuse to sweat in front of him.

I had nothing to wear. Shopping! I hurried and ran to the mall and searched for the perfect outfit, suitable to be burned into the brain of the "plumber guy". An outfit that would take his breath away, and stop him dead in his tracks. He would forever remember this outfit. This would be the one that he would reminisce about to our grandchildren! The one that would be burned into his brain.... FOREVER! Okay, that's going a little to far. I ended up buying a pair of khakis from the Gap. Straight legged, no pleats (I didn't want to look like I worked in Circuit City). And then I found a dark green silk blouse from ZCMI. Not too dressy, yet casual. Perfect.

Since I was unaware if we were going to eat, I decided to eat dinner. Heck, I was hungry and for all I knew, we were just going to probably go to a movie. So I had a small dinner, brushed my teeth, and primped for 2 hours all in the attempt to look like I had just thrown myself together with in minutes. No girl wanted to give the impression that her beauty came way of hours of maintenance.... layers of hairspray, careful application of eyeliner, thick coat of mascara, and several different attempts of the right lip wear. I waited anxiously.

Knock, knock.

My heart jumped into throat and I had to catch my breath.

I opened the door and was overcome by this fine specimen standing in front of me. This time I took every detail in. I could eat him up! He was wearing a white polo shirt and jeans. He looks sooooo good in jeans. His jeans sucked me in from day one. He was a vision. He was freshly showered and smelled lovely. "Look at those tanned arms," I thought. "So rugged, so man-esque." They had left a mark on my mind, as did his hiny. My heart fluttered and I smiled.

"Are you ready?"

"Yup!"

He opened the car door for me and we were off to the "big" city. Well, SLC. The traffic was slow and go and the conversation was minimal. Between the small spurts of chit chat, there was silence. The "plumber guy" was not much of a talker. I tried everything to strike up a conversation. I even resorted to asking useless questions.

"Soooooo, what's your favorite color?"

"Uh, black."

"Soooooo, how many brothers and sisters do you have?"

"3 sisters and 2 brothers."

"Hey, there are three boys and three girls in my family, also!"

"Oh."

"Soooooo, how old are your brothers and sisters?"

This date was starting off with a splash, let me tell ya! So the conversation went on like this for a while longer, until we reached our destination. We were going to have dinner at some Italian restaurant. Oh great, dinner.... again. We entered the restaurant, and were taken to our seats. We were surrounded by a sea of noisy, formal wearing highschoolers. Who has a formal dance this late in the school year? I ended up ordering manicotti and ate maybe three bites. I fessed up and told him I already had dinner and that I wasn't that hungry. In reality, I could've eaten the whole thing, but then I didn't want to look like a pig.

On the way home the conversation began to flow a little more easily. He told me about his mission to Korea and told me about the food, the people, and his experiences of teaching the Gospel. Once in a while he would flash a Korean word and phrase here and there to impress me. It worked. What is it that makes a woman giggle like a little school girl, when she hears a handsome young man speak another language? (sigh)

We then stopped at a park. I told the "plumber guy" that I needed to stop at the bathroom, placed in the middle of the park. There was no door to the bathroom! And I noticed "plumber guy" decided to wait right outside. "What if he heard me?" I thought. The lights were burned out, so I was in total darkness. I carefully placed a protective barrier of tp around the seat of the toilet and tried not to touch ANYTHING. Public bathrooms are always questionable, especially in the dark. I tried to control the "noise level" to my best ability. I mean, how do you control the noise level of peeing? Once I was done, I placed my purse on the counter near the sink. One of the sinks was clogged and had flooded. My purse was now soaked. I washed my hands and got the heck out of dodge!

We then walked slowly on a path that followed a meandering stream. We fed the swans and ducks and talked about our families, school, work, and life experiences.

"Plumber guy" then had a plan to stop at Baskin Robins to have an ice cream cone. But I said I really wasn't hungry. He didn't believe me and kept pressing me to have an ice cream cone.

"No, really I'm not hungry."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Then for some odd reason he decided to stop at a grocery store. "Okay, maybe he needed a gallon of milk," I thought. So we walked up and down the aisles.

"Are you sure you are not hungry?" he would ask.

"Ummmm, YES!"

I later found out that he was just killing time. Don't ask. He's a dork. We then left the grocery store. (No milk on hand) We got in his car and he pulled up to a white sports car in the large parking lot, near a pizza joint. There were two guys standing there. The one guy looked 40, to me, and was wearing a chain. Now he did look like a Guido or Vinnie. The other freckle faced "kid" (the passenger) looked 12. "What the heck was this 40 year old doing with this kid?" I thought. "Why are we here?"

"Uh, Jennifer this is my friend Dave and my little brother Larry."

"Hi."

Turns out my date had another date that night. He was suppose to meet them at a certain time after our date, to hang out with them. Our date ran a little longer than expected. Two timer.

Well our date was coming to an end and it was time for me to go home. And he was pressed for time with his second date. As we were coming closer to my apartment, my mind started to race.

"What if he tries to kiss me?" "Should I let him kiss me?" "Do I unlock my apartment door then wait for the kiss?" "Or do I just wait for it?"

When we reached my apartment we walked up the side walk leading up to the stairs. I was nervous. And when I'm nervous, I do stupid things and say stupid things. I then bounded up the stairs, leaving "plumber guy" in a cloud of dust behind me and then unlocked the door.

"I had a great time. Thanks for everything."

"Uh, okay. I'll see you next Friday."

"Okay. See ya then."

"Plumber guy" was still at the bottom of the stairs with a confused look on his face.

"Jennifer! What the crap were you thinkin?"

I did the enjoy the date. I didn't mean to blow it big time at the end of the date. I just knew that he was going to call me and come up with an excuse to get out of the next date. I couldn't even imagine what he thought about me. Oh well, no kiss tonight.

Sadly Jennifer did not get her first kiss this night. Would "plumber guy" go on the second date with her? Or would he call her and cancel with a lame-o excuse? Tune in tomorrow for part 3.