So he picked me up for the first time with his car after my meeting with an old friend. It was a little difficult trying to find each other at first because I was lost and he was guiding me through the phone to find his car. It was sort of fun and I felt like I was in a game. When I finally found it, he told me that it was his first time picking up a girl in a car and he seems delighted by this “landmark” he calls it. I just chuckled at his innocent remark. We went on our way and we chatted about our days. We went to Edwards Gardens via his phone map, which he was particular about. He said he won’t drive over the speed limit because he wanted to keep me safe. I was laughing internally by his cute remarks. We reached the park and walked around holding hands. But first, he hugged me and lifted me up because I was shorter. The walk was nice and relaxing but I was keeping the time in my mind because we had to reach the movie theatres by a certain time. We talked and in the passing, he said he liked me and I, him. He wrapped his arms around me on the bridge, which felt nice. We walked up some stairs to a little hut and explored a bit. When we got to the car and tried to leave the parking lot, there were a lot of cars going the other way so we went the other way. Suddenly the car started vibrating and he wondered if it was the road. This went on for a while until we almost reached the theatres where I looked into the car manual for the light. Apparently his brake was still on the whole time! We giggled and he felt so embarrassed by his mistake. I tried to comfort him because it was alright to me. I found his awkward nervousness actually nice and refreshing because it meant he cared enough to not mess up, unlike my ex who cared more about looking cool. We made it to the theatre safely but I worry for his car a bit. Then we went to the theatre together. He pre-bought the tickets and selected middle seats which were nice. We watched “a Quiet Place” due to its good ratings (he likes things with good reviews). He ordered some popcorn without butter oil and pop to share. I learned about diet coke and coke zero having no sugar, which he preferred due to its effect on teeth. These facts are interesting to learn. He had trouble sliding his table out so I reached over to help him but it was stuck. While that happened, he patted me on the back and said “Hmm, I like this” in a frank and funny manner. The movie was tense, suspenseful and well-put together, enough for me to impulsively grab onto his arm and cuddle up to him a little. I felt embarrassed that I did that but he offered his hand each time for me to hold. I think I like the shape of his hands; long, smooth and flexible. He said he liked my hands too because of its softness and small size. Anyways, it was a cute and embarrassing moment for me. I think he enjoyed it and even said “we should watch more scary movies”, despite his fear of them. During most of the movie, he mostly froze, held my hands and laughed inappropriately as his coping mechanism. After the movie, we walked around the plaza and then went into his favourite store, Roots. He saw some socks on sale that he always wanted to get and insisted that I get the women’s equivalent to match him. It was a cute but embarrassing idea. I’ve never done something like this before with my ex. He did get me a pink t-shirt to match his blue souvenir t-shirt when he traveled for a bachelor’s party but that was the end of it. My favourite colour was blue though and my ex’s favourite colour was pink, so it sort of got switched due to the sizes.
Anyways, I offered to buy the socks as a celebratory gift for him getting two job offers recently. He was delighted and took up the offer. He said he always wanted to get those socks but never found them on sale. Eating with him still makes me uncomfortable because I’m constantly aware of having something stuck in my teeth with him. I’m trying to be more comfortable but it’ll take time. I don’t know why but I actually kind of hope this one lasts. Something about him just feels right because we’re similar in our thinking and interests, which was quite different from my last one. Though it’s an unfair comparison.
Next, we looked around for dinner and I suggested the congee queen that I used to frequent with my family. He tried many others before and was skeptical about the taste in different areas so was pleasantly surprised by the taste there. We worked together to figure out a good balance of food and again, ordered too much. Though it was a good balance of rice, meat and veggies. We packed and splited the leftovers. Before we left, I hinted at something I wanted to ask him but was too uncomfortable to because I thought it would be too early. He replied saying that I should tell him after we leave so we left the place and then asked me to just say it. I still couldn’t bring myself to ask and I shied away. Seeing my struggle, he took the chance to ask if I could be his girlfriend. I skipped a beat and said okay. He hugged me in delight and said he felt so lucky. I then explained why I said that I felt “conflicted” before in the restaurant because there were still other people asking me out but I didn’t feel like going. I thought that I should clarify with him first so I can move on and date others if he wasn’t sure what he wanted from me and was fine with me doing that. My original question was “did you want to date exclusively or not?” which I guess had the same context as being girlfriend and boyfriend. Throughout the night, I was still too shy to admit the new status while he was so happy to say “girlfriend’ to me all the time. We went into a gelato store and shared an icecream: strawberry and cookies’n’creme. He liked the strawberry flavour more. We held hands and talked about our past a little bit more. He said he had one previous 3-year relationship back in Australia during his schooling which was nice and supportive during the stress. However, there were fundamental differences that he knew wouldn’t work out in the end. I tried to ask but apparently they were more serious topics like the prospect of having children or not. I didn’t mind discussing these topics because it’s actually quite important to know but I backed off a bit because I worried it would make him uncomfortable discussing this so early. Anyways, we enjoyed our time and he said he didn’t want to leave but we had to because it’s getting late and I remembered he had work the next day. He hugged me some more and took me home. At the front of my home, we finally traded our drawings and he asked for a kiss unexpectedly. This made me nervous and I don’t think I did a good job. We tried again and then he kissed me on the cheek while I kissed his jaw because I couldn’t reach. I was also holding onto stuff so it made me uncomfortable. Hopefully I’ll do better next time.
Something to Read 