The Gambler

As I walked out of the bar I looked over to her and she smiled, I approached her, complimented her ear rings, and the rest was history. A chance meeting after last call leads to "hello," a phone number, and my first real date in months.

It was the eve of Irene, everyone was scrambling to evacuate their beach houses and summer jobs and find safe haven. I guess the one positive we can take from Katrina is that the US government will never let itself be unprepared again for a predictable natural disaster. After the earthquake hit and cell service was down for hours they told us to text and not call. Then they started to evacuate cities and beaches to make sure we wouldn't be caught off guard again by a hurricane that ended up being only Category 1. I mean Maryland is always just far enough west from the coast not to really be in any imminent danger, but strong winds and heavy rain always leads people to start driving retarded. Despite all this impending doom, I still decided to commence the weekend activities as usual, heading down to the city to drink.

This time around would be a little different. I decided to bring my lil sis (who is 20 and turns legal in March) and her friends down with me to hang out with the cool kids. I drove them down, dropped them off, and found some always difficult city parking. Once I got to the pregame spot I didn't really waste anytime and went straight for the shots of the hard stuff. At this point it was already 10pm and I was dead sober, something that I don't like being with a limited amount of bar time ahead of me. Stann was back in town so we wrestled a game of You Got Served together and after a couple of rounds headed to the bar. Plenty of couples, plenty of people, and plenty of dancing and plenty of free drinks, that is the summary of my night out at the "Ricks of Baltimore." Then came last call, I was actually out with Kerry and her friends, and was playing wing man for my boy Alex who was trying to get it in with one of Kerry's friends. I did my usual "after you" to the ladies and took up the rear. As I rounded the turn to the exit stairwell, I spotted this really attractive girl leaning against the wall next to what looked like a couple, who were clearly her friends. She has this bored/lonely look on her face so of course I decided to go up to her and start a conversation...

"Are those feather earrings you're wearing?"
"Yeah, they are"
"I really like them."
-Smiles
"Thanks, I really like you. What's your name?"
"Stevann."
"Steven?"
"No, Stevann"
"Devin?"
"Ha, no, Stev- ann"
"Oh, cool."
"Yo Stev, let's go, where are you?"
"Take my number."
"Alright, well I'll give you a call sometime, Lindsey right?"
"Yeah, but why don't you just come with me now?"
-Takes my hand and walks me out to the street.
We say "hello"
Stev?! What are you doing?! Kerry is waiting. Let's go!
-Literally pulls me away from Lindsey
-Makes a confused face, walks away


So yeah that was my last 15 minutes at the bar, or I guess technically my last 5 minutes at the bar and then 10 minutes outside getting her number, saying hello, and then getting pulled away. She later texted me asking if I had a gf and why my friends would pull me away like that. I have to say though it has been a long time since I've picked up a girl at the last moments of the night out. I guess Stalking Horse isn't the "Rick's of Baltimore" (I am the only one who refers to it as such) for no reason. After further conversation she tells me that she thought I was "hot" so why not try to take me home seconds after meeting me ha. She is actually a cool girl, she's a nurse, and used to be a gymnast, yeah a win win there.

Fast forward to 7 am when we have a hour long text conversation that leads to our first date. At this point it is Saturday evening and the rains and heavy winds come in so we decide just to go back to her place after dinner. We get some wine and watch Dirty Dancing (which is actually a great date movie) and cuddle up on the couch for a couple hours. Despite what all evidence may lead you to believe, I actually did NOT hook up with her. It was more of an adult type date where we got to know each other and look forward to saving the "promiscuous behavior" for later, those were her words actually.

So yeah thats about it, it was a nice touchy feely night, the lights cut off a couple of times and we had a romantic evening. Wow, romantic evening. Is that something that grown ups do? Is that something I'll have to get used to? She's 27 by the way. No more just getting down to the dirty early, let's see how playing it slow goes for me.

As for the rest of the weekend, I will spend it watching movies and just chilling. A hurricane doesn't really incite me to do anything crazy.