a tale of two evenings
I realized earlier tonight that I have never told the story of Kyle and my technically first date. I would say that that thing we went on where we went to see Shortbus and to Jerusalem Cafe with Emily in November of last year was also a date. I would also say that the time he came to Topeka to hang out with me at the end of winter break last year was also a date. But then, it’s somewhat hard to gauge because we were both pursuing other people in addition to each other during that time and that night in St. Louis was the night we started clean. So there was a lot going on in my life that made writing down the details sort of difficult cos I was trying to protect feelings or something and I never actually wrote them down even privately. I guess I’ll do that now.
February 14, 2007
I flew to St. Louis at like some random time in the afternoon. I spent the morning at KSHS doing research for a paper and then got yelled at in Mezcal by Brandon and Bearman for quite a bit, but I could not be swayed. So James took me to the airport and I boarded a plane to St. Louis. I got there at 5:30 or so and there was this brilliant and wonderful moment where I was walking toward the luggage claim with my stuff and he was at the bottom of the escalator and I caught his eyes as I was fumbling with my phone to call him. It was adorable. We got all of my stuff together and tossed it in his car and headed toward Delmar so that we could get to dinner and then to the show. He took me to dinner at this Thai place that’s pretty good… We basically just randomly chose it because I love thai food and so does he. He had a few beers and we chatted in a romanticly lit back corner table over our meals. My food was even really delicious. If I’m remembering correctly i had Pad See Euaw and he had Pad Thai. After dinner we went to the Pageant and met Sid and Jessy. We got there in time for a couple songs by the Academy Is.. and then we saw some song by some other band and I only remember paying attention to the song that I remembered from the radio. Then we got ready for Jack’s Mannequin. He managed to swindle our way down to the floor and he wrapped his arms around me and whispered sweet things in my ear while screaming at Andrew to play Konstantine, and other songs. There is a recording of our first date available at jacksmannequin.org. How cute is that? After that we drove to Schnucks and bought some beer and then we headed to Sid’s where we hung out with Jessy and Sid and eventually Ashley for the rest of the night. We hid under blankets to avoid awkward moments of the evenings. And it’s like right that moment we were a team. At least, that’s how I remember it now. Really, I think things developed at a much more reasonable pace than this would suggest. But that’s the best part sometimes.
December 21, 2007
Tonight, or rather today, we spent the morning laying around bed. He stayed up really late working on debate stuff and then joined me to sleep since I have been doing this thing lately where I wake up as soon as he’s not in bed next to me and have trouble getting back to sleep. How adorable is that? I’ve never really done that before… usually I just enjoy the extra bedspace. But there’s a part of me that even when asleep feels more comfortable with him next to me. So at 11 or so, he asked if I still wanted to see Charlie Wilson’s War at 12:15. I said I did so we started to get around and I took my shower and we cuddled some more. He complemented for me looking pretty when I got dressed and said that he’s always impressed with how pretty I look every day. Then, we left the house and headed to the movie theater. We bought our tickets and headed in for the show. He handed me a power ade when I was expecting Diet Coke and I was like “aagggh, PowerAde. What a waste of the money for the soda! ick!” in my brain and then i was like “what is this?” and he said “Diet Coke?” and i said “no… it doesn’t taste like diet coke.” so then he surprised me with the actual diet coke. while this was not an intentional mix up so that he could save the day with the soda i wanted, it is an adorable example of how he always thinks of me and he knows me well enough to get diet coke, or i suppose, he would ask before he chose powerade as the drink du jour. The movie was fantastic (you should see it!) and we were all snuggly during it. After the movie, we went to Rich People’s Dillons and I bitched about Suburbia and how much I hate the people that live out there and drive out there. THERE WAS A 4-CAR CRAZY FIASCO THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A WRECK TO TEACH THAT LEXUS A LESSON! Ack. We used my gift card from work, plus 1.89 of his money to get stuff to make shrimp tacos later. Then we headed to Washburn so I could get my check and send some transcripts. Finally, we went to the bank and deposited my check and then headed home to make our food. I cleaned the kitchen while he read net-benefits and then I caught up on my rss feeds and read some dirty letters from James Joyce. Turns out dirty letters from James Joyce are really fucking dirty. Like. really. Kind of horrifying, actually. Google that shit. We decided to postpone dinner till a more normal time, but when it finally was time for dinner we were both really hungry. And the shrimp tacos were delicious. He basically just heated up some oil and then let about 3/4 of a cup of onions simmer in it. After a minute or so of the onions simmering, he added a bunch of white shrimp that we’d gotten precooked. We added a heaping tablespoon or so of cilantro and about five round slices of pineapple cut into wedges. He seasoned it with Chipotle taco seasoning, just a little though, and then we ate it on soft corn tortillas with cheese and pico. Yumminess. After dinner we took a nap and then I headed to work and he went back to Kansas City.
So as you can see, our relationship has grown and changed a lot over the past 10 months. But in the best of ways. And I can’t wait to spend my life with him.