A Most Memorable Night...

I have to write this right now, this very minute, so that I can try and capture the feeling of what tonight has been like.

You see, there's this guy I "met" online, that lives in L.A. --- yes, all the way in California. Anyway, we started "talking" 3 months ago - random emails every now and then. Based on some emails we exchanged, the timing was off and well, for reasons left unsaid, it wasn't really going to go anywhere (among other things, he's a year younger than me and I don't think he was ok with that). But I really enjoyed our chats and so I kept in touch with him. When I recently went to India he was telling me some places to go check out (which I did). I let go of the idea of this going anywhere but referred to him once in awhile as my dream boy (tall, cute, vegetarian, my religion) - all the things that would be great to have :)

So when I found out I was coming to L.A. for work, I asked him if he lived nearby and would like to meet up for a drink so we could go from being virtual friends to real friends. He said he would do one better than that and take me to dinner. Yeah! I was totally looking forward to meeting him (with truly no expectations).

And tonight I did. Imagine a tall, cute, goofy guy...kind of like Ross on Friends. Ross, we'll call him Ross :) He picked me up at my hotel around 8pm and we went to Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica - conversation was easy right from the beginning and we were talking away. We walked around, briefly stopped to watch a street performance (i love those, but could tell maybe he didnt want to watch), so then continued on to find a place to eat as we were both hungry. We stopped at this nice Italian restaurant and sat outside to have dinner. I picked 2 different glasses of wine for us to try and he picked 2 different dishes that we would try. We shared one story after another - with a million tangents because I suffer from ADD (worse than him he said!) and everything he said would trigger a story, which of course I had to totally interupt with :) It was amazing how many little things we had in common. We toasted our wine glasses and he said something about being buddies and going from being virtual friends to real friends - it was cute - and at the same time i thought a nice, subtle reminder that that is what we were. No problem - I really had no expectations! We talked all throughout dinner and then stayed and sat there for quite some time after we were done, just talking. We shared stories about dating, our jobs, freakish things that happen to us - like how I get up at 3am every night and how everytime he looks at the time its either 1:11 or 11:11, we talked about embarrassing stories, differences in attitude of peole from the west coast vs. east coast, and on and on (as he made fun of my east coast accent).

Then he asked me if I wanted to walk around and so we got up and walked up and down 3rd Street Promenade. The weather was perfect! He was telling me how annoying it was that they made low waist men's jeans and I didnt believe him. We passed an Abercombie (i think) and i took him inside to prove it to me. I couldn't believe it - they were everywhere!! I told him this had to be a west coast thing! We continued walking around, talked about cars (his passion) and by this point he was very aware of my ADD tendencies and was catering his stories around it - sorry - there was just so much to see and I love this area! =) I practically jumped up and down when I saw the beach and Santa Monica Pier was right across from us and told him how I hadn't been to the beach all summer! We started walking towards it and I was like please don't feel obligated to go with me, I feel bad I'm dragging you everywhere. He didn't seem to mind and so on we went, joking that I was going to have to carry him back because we were going far from the car!

As we were walking towards the beach, our hands brushed in a way that we almost held hands for a second - my heart skipped a beat. Oh, I just love that feeling! I know, I know, it doesn't mean anything so I had to let it go. But I loved the way he would put his hand on my back if we were crossing the street or to get me out of the way of something. Anyway, I digress...

We got to the beach, I took off my heels, rolled up my jeans and we went for a walk. It was perfect! We were talking and I was complaining that all the sand was filling up in the part of my jeans I had rolled up and now I was walking with like 5lb weights! And because he's tall, practically running to catch up with him :) He was telling me how cold the water gets and I didn't believe him so he told me to go check it out - to have the sand under my toes and the water hitting my feet - I couldn't think of anywhere else I would want to be! We walked for awhile and then sat down and hung out on the beach. I was building a mountain with the sand as we talked and it was just so nice - the sight of the water, the sound of the waves, the endless sand, the lights from the Pier in the background. He started packing my sand to keep it together and I told him he was turning my mountain into a volcano! I kept building it and then he put my name on it. It was a picture perfect moment. We talked about college, our first drinking experiences, how we couldn't stand the cold weather (he thought it was cold out tonight!), places he's traveled and so on as I continued to play with the sand. I dug a hole so deep he was like someone is totally going to fall into that - I just laughed and he was like that is so evil :)

We started our walk back around midnight. Part of me was sad that the night was going to end. There was definetly a little flirting going on (at least I think so) and a few more brushes of the hand that left butterflies in my stomach. He told me the walk back was like an obstacle course for me and I totally agreed - the sand making weights again in my rolled up jeans, my heels that kept getting caught in the planks in the boardwalk. At one point he offered me his hand (he did a couple times actually) and I didn't really take it....not sure where it might lead....or what to do if it did. So I thought best to avoid the whole situation. He made a pit stop to the bathroom and I sat and waited on the boardwalk. He came up behind me and grabbed my waist for a second to get my attention, totally taking me by surprise. Cute. We continued walking back and he asked me how often I traveled. I said sometimes a lot, sometimes not for months (wondering if he was asking somehow how often I came out to L.A.??) I told him I had a potential trip in another 2 weeks but wasn't sure if I would come, would probably send someome else (I told him about it, thinking maybe he would say, you should come). He told me when I was ready to buy a car, I should send him the specs of what I wanted and he would help me out. Nice.

We got back to the garage and drove to my hotel (about 5 minutes away). He drives a Corvette and its so low to the ground. The inside is pretty cool though and he was gunning it as we drove back to show me some of the features - it was fun :) When we got to the hotel, he parked and said I'll walk you to the door - how sweet!! I told him I really had a great time and we hugged and I said keep in touch....and I went inside....so happy!

It's been so long since I had this much fun. Maybe it was because there were no expectations/stresses of a date? As I walked into my hotel room I was hoping my perfect night would end like in the movies and romance novels...that he would call and say he forgot something and then come back to give me a kiss and tell me he wants to see me again tomorrow. Haha, I know, I know - but hey, a girl can dream!!

So that was my night with my 'dream boy'. I texted him saying 'a sincere thanks for a memorable night'. He wrote back 'hey i didnt really do anything but you're welcome' to which i said 'you were good company & took me to all the places i wanted to go. well at least didnt mind getting dragged to them!'

Will I ever see him again? Chances are not. But what wonderful memories that i get to keep forever. The dinner, the beach, the conversations, the light flirting, finally feeling happy - what a truly truly memorable night!!