the boys are back

Where do I even begin?

Before I do last night's recap, I need to talk about my crazy relationship with a popular male name. For privacy's sake, I'll use "Dave".

I have met more Daves than should be statistically possible. My first boyfriend was named Dave, my longest and most serious relationship was with a Dave, and there have been many Daves in between who have caused me grief. At one point, I refused to go out with any more Daves, because I thought no good could come of it.

Obviously I met someone last night named Dave, but let's backtrack to the party.

Actually, I can sum up the party very quickly. It was fun, but there were no prospects and the crowd was very unbalanced with lots of single, competitive women and few single men. The sweetest and most attractive man there was a married acquaintance. I tried to talk to one cute guy who turned out to be unattached, but he couldn't muster up the social skills to say two sentences to me (unless he was stunned by my beauty, though I'd rather not give him the benefit of the doubt).

At around midnight, my single friends and I decided that we needed to leave the party while our energy and optimism was still kicking. One decided to go home, and then there were three.

We took the subway to the lower east side and ended up at one bar that was pretty dead. My friends let me talk for way too long to an Albanian guy with strange teeth, who I eventually realized was impeding the boy hunt.

We talked to a couple of guys at the second bar, but I was more interested in playing Elvis pinball. Not a good sign.

Another friend went home, and then there were two.

Bar three was a place I've been to once before and hated. However, we walked into this place and were talking to cute guys almost instantly. This is where I met Dave.

Dave was very attractive: tall, lean, blue eyes, light brown hair. The shocking thing about him was how much he reminded me of a guy who was my One Night Stand Soul Mate (another story for another time). Dave not only had a similar face, but a similar sense of humor. At the bar, he made me laugh almost continously, which made me want to smooch him. The spooky thing is, he was visiting NYC and even lives in the same city (in the same neighborhood!!!) as ONSSM. Which is also unfortunate, because I knew I couldn't get far with a guy who was leaving town in a day or two.

My friend was doing well for herself, talking to two guys who I briefly met (I think they were Dave's friends). However, before Dave and I got caught up in a group discussion, I suggested sitting down. My strategy was to separate us from the group and enjoy conversation (and maybe kissing) in our own semi-private area.

When I found out Dave worked as a lawyer, it made me happy because I had just written about how I'd break my pattern of going for the starving artists/geeks. There he was being neither. But you don't care about that. You want to know if I got naughty with him. Read on.

After some time of chatting privately, my friend and Dave's friends came over. Dave and I went over to the bar and we expressed disappointment at having our privacy spoiled. I said we'd have to go somewhere else and he agreed.

Dave led me upstairs where there was a dark lounge with loud music and a movie projected on the back wall. Just after we sat down, the lights came on, the music/movie stopped, and the bartenders shouted for everyone to clear out. If they thought that was going to stop me from kissing Dave, they were sorely mistaken.

I told Dave that we still had time, because it would be a while before everyone left. In my tipsy state, I actually made the first move and did the pre-kiss lean-in. At this point, it was safe to assume he was interested, and he went for it. Finally!

The kiss was nice, but we didn't get to make out for long, because the place was closing. Damn New York City bars that close at 4:00am instead of being open 24 hours!

My friend was hungry and went to get food with Dave's friends, while I assured Dave that I knew of an after-hours place we could go to. It was about ten degrees out, so we had to hurry.

We were almost let into a gay bar, but they were closing up and told us the name of a bar across town they were going to, informing us in a snotty way that we'd have to take our own taxi.

Dave was very good-natured about the whole thing and made jokes about how we would get hypothermia before we found a bar. He had no gloves or scarf and was freezing, so I pulled him into a doorway.

"I'll warm you up."

We made out for a little bit and he put his hands inside my coat. When we broke apart, he said he was warmer and I chided him for acting so surprised.

We never did find an after-hours place so I suggested we take a taxi back to my apartment. I was hoping he wouldn't assume this meant I wanted to have sex with him. I mean, I probably would have been open to the idea if I was a little less drunk and not on the rag, but alas.

Turns out, sex was not even an issue. Back at my place, we cuddled up on the couch and talked for hours and hours. He smelled so good it was almost distracting (another thing he had in common with ONSSM; I have a terrible weakness for men who wear really good cologne). The conversation got kind of serious and normally I would have been miffed that he wasn't trying to get my clothes off, but I was tired and mellow and happy just to talk. After the sun came up, I suggested we get some sleep. I changed into pajamas and he didn't even take his jeans off when he got into bed (which makes me wonder if he didn't see me as a sex object at that point, or was being a gentleman... or maybe both?). In bed, we talked some more until I finally passed out. I woke up a few hours later as he was getting ready to leave and he asked for my number. I wrote it down for him, along with my email.

I don't expect to hear from Dave, but it was nice to get kisses from a man who smelled really good and made me laugh for hours. It was also wonderful to fall asleep next to a man. I really miss that.

A little while ago, I checked my email to find that two of the OP guys I wrote to replied to my messages. One wrote me an enthusiastic email filled with questions (I love questions) that began:

What a nice surprise to find an email in my inbox from such a lovely woman.

His name is Dave.