Popping bottles

My step-cousin told me the NYE party would be a tacky Christmas sweater party. I was thrilled. I had Friday, New Year’s Eve, off work, so I met up with my friend Ashley for the day. We went out for Mexican food and margaritas, and then to a thrift store to find tacky Christmas sweaters for Tyler and me. We managed to find some very awkward sweaters.

After, it was to my apartment where we finished off a bottle of wine. She left and I fell asleep for a few hours until Tyler texted me about meeting up. I didn't feel like getting out of bed, but told him to meet me at my apartment.

Tyler arrived carrying Christmas lights with battery packs so we could string them through our sweaters. He worked on this at my kitchen table while I kept my cats away from him because, as I found out, he is allergic. Armed with a flask and bottle of wine, we headed to 7-Eleven for Benadryl for him and then to the party. We easily found the house, and I felt a little nervous walking up to the door. I tend to be shy around new people.

But it was great. Scott and his friends were hilarious. We played beer pong in the garage most of the night, and watched the ball drop on TV. There were enough bottles of champagne at the party for everyone to have their own. We took a group picture with each person holding one and popped them all at the same time. Late that night, Scott drunkenly told me Tyler was awesome. I agreed. He was a great party date.

We decided to go back to his place for the night. I was nervous about staying the night with him for the first time, but a little drunk as well, so that helped. I didn’t sleep too well that night. He snored and his puppy, though super cute, kept trying to cuddle with us. He kept his arm around me all night, which was sweet.

When we woke up, he cooked migas for breakfast. I had never had them before, and loved them. Mexican food is my favorite. We ate them and watched a documentary on the science behind attraction. The documentary said people with symmetrical faces have an easier time finding love, so we had to get in front of the mirror to decide if our faces were symmetrical.

We decided to go out for lunch. He drove to an area near him that had a lot of restaurants, and I glanced around. Then I saw it: Texadelphia. It’s basically a Philly cheesesteak place that serves beer. But when I go there I get the veggie sandwich with chips and salsa and Dr Pepper. They have great salsa. They also have a great mustard sauce that I drown my sandwich in.  I dragged him there for lunch. We were out of things to talk about by then so it was a little awkward. I just tried to concentrate on my amazing food.

He took me home after and we discussed relationships on the half hour drive. We didn’t talk about us at all, but about what we want in general for the future.

The next day was my date with Chris_P from OkCupid. We planned to meet at a Thai restaurant for lunch. I had never been to it before. Part of me didn’t want to go on the date. Yes, he sounded great in his emails, but I felt a little overwhelmed with all the Jay/Tyler stuff. I didn’t want to add another guy to my situation. But I had already agreed to the date so I figured I may as well give him/it a chance.

I talked on the phone with my dad on the way to the date. I told him where I was going, and joked, “Just FYI in case he kills me or kidnaps me…”

It took me awhile to find the restaurant. I ended up parking at the place next door because I had got confused along the one-way street it was on. I walked up to the front of the restaurant and saw a cute guy in his twenties sitting on a bench. He stood up when he saw me and I realized it must be Chris. We introduced ourselves, and I thought, “He’s much better looking than in his photos.”