"So what else have you done on your birthday dates so far?" Levi asked her as the wind whipped their hair on the way to dinner.
"Well KSL counts the night before my birthday, but that was a disaster and I don't count it at all. So this would be my first one. Pressure is on!"
She saw him smile out of the corner of her eye, and also smiled at the absurdity of it all.
"So professor, I decided I needed to do my homework for this date and I finished your book."
She felt his energy change and he started talking excitedly about it. They didn't waste any time discussing the location where the book took place, where he had lived for a few years and her for 10. They talked about the energy of that city and the interesting places that were there. They spent all of dinner having an amazing conversation and discussing mutual interests and friends. He said he'd like to read her blog and she said it was way too autobiographical right now to be read by anyone. She did tell him about her old blog and how much she liked describing things.
He asked if she was ready to leave, and she said "Sure, but where are we going? You said it was a surprise, I can't wait to see what you've planned!"
"Well, there are a couple of live music events happening tonight. We could do Folk music at the BBQ place, or Jazz at the hipster bar."
Her heart sank a tiny bit, as she expected a bit more since he had built the evening up so much. However, she countered with herself, he was a musician and this was kind of sharing a piece of himself with her. And he was giving her a couple of options, which was polite.
She remembered the loud BBQ place, where she had met up with Nameless last and they had both found the scene a bit too much and fled immediately. She chose Jazz.
"Do you mind if we stop by the house and let the dog out?" He said, saying it as if it was a house they shared together. She said she didn't mind, as she had met the dog last weekend and wouldn't mind another interaction.
"You haven't actually been in the house yet huh? Just dropping stuff off?" He said. They had talked about minimalism at dinner and he showed her his collection of vinyl and books, his "only two materialistic vices."
She met their cat for the first time and immediately fell in love. Levi actually had to ask her if she was ready to go to get her to remember she was on a date and not at a pet store. For a moment she wondered why they had come back to the house and wondered if it was a tactic, but so far she was getting zero flirting or chemistry from him. Did she miss the signal while being enamored with the pets?
They decided to walk as his car lights had been flickering on the way back from dinner and didn't feel safe. The awesome conversation continued, completely devoid of anything but the beginning of an awesome friendship. They listened to the jazz and made up short stories about the other characters in the bar.
Eventually they moved down the street to one of her favorite bars, where there were only a few people into the late hour. He moved over so they would be sitting on the same couch and continued their easy conversation.
The bar emptied out quickly, and they brought up the break up of the Improv team. He had been the musician for most of the last run but was told by most of the team that they just thought of him as IL's husband and not really part of the team. They had even waited until after he was out of town for a week to drop the ax on IL.
She looked over at him and her heart sank for him. She could see exactly why he felt like that, IL did have a big personality and tended to keep her things "hers" despite the polyamory. But it still must hurt to not be thought of a a separate, real person. She knew that feeling intimately because she was always her ex's wife and nothing more for years and years.
It was soul-crushing.
For the first time on the "date" she wanted to reach out and grab his hand. But her empathetic side was feeling nothing coming from him. She decided to use her words instead of physical touch. She told him about how hard it was to be the "other" in the relationship, and how horrible that must have been for him to go through and feel. It was completely unfair and sad. She could tell he knew she was being sincere.
It was so nice to be connecting with another writer who could understand where her emotions came from. She felt so emotionally fulfilled from their conversation throughout the night that she wasn't the least bit disappointed that there was no romance at all.
They walked through the dark back to his house, laughing about how they got kicked out of the bar because the bartender was parked illegally. The bartender had promised them a round on him next time they came in before turning them out on the street.
They got back to his house at the same time as IL, and they all hugged and shared a bit of their evenings before he stated that he was going to drive her home.
Luckily the lights mostly remained on, and they laughed whenever they flickered.
"Come 'ere, give me a hug." He said as he threw the car into park. "Working date soon for developing the stand up?" She asked. "You know it" he replied easily.
"Thanks for tonight, it was so much fun. My first Jazz!"
He smiled, and waited until she was to the front doors before he took the car into a U-turn to head back home.
