IQ.

I had an interesting evening.

It started the day before yesterday. See, I have this friend who lives in town- we'll call her C, my goodness do I have a lot of C friends- with her boyfriend M. I knew her from high school, so we go back a ways. Anyway, every Friday, C and M hold a "Games Night" where they invite some friends over to play board games, have a few drinks and eat some dinner. I've been invited to every single one, for MONTHS now... and I never went. One of the main reasons for this was simply that I didn't feel comfortable leaving T alone in the apartment on Friday nights out of fear that he'd drink himself to death unsupervised; the other was that their apartment is on the other side of town and takes forever to get to on a bus.

I decided that, long-ass bus ride or not, I should really go to the Games Night this week. I'm not sure why, maybe I'm just finally comfortable with going out again. Also, I missed C, because we haven't hung out in a while. Anyway, I responded on Facebook and clicked "maybe attending" on the event.

That evening, G sent me a message on FB chat. If you don't remember G, he's the guy I knew from high school that I never talked to until recently and then had dinner with the last time I was in Niagara. He, like me, is always invited (he knows C too) but never goes. (In his case, it's understandable, as it IS almost a two-hour drive to London.)

Anyway, we got to talking, and I asked him what he was doing this weekend. He said he was thinking of going to the Games Night, which surprised me. I even entertained the notion that he might be considering it only because he saw that *I* might be going... but whatever. I told him it would be nice to see him, and he said he would do his best to make it. Of course, I was all giggly and excited and nervous all the next day. I was also incredibly self-conscious because right now, I have a horrible, swollen, bruised welt on my left cheek- a reaction to the makeup I was wearing at my cousin's wedding the other day- and I spent at least an hour styling my hair so that it hid at least part of that side of my face.

My room mate ended up driving me over to C and M's place around 5, which was great because if I'd taken the bus I'd have probably been in VERY rough shape by the time I got there. When I first arrived, there were only 3 people there: C and M, and C's friend N.

I introduced myself to M and N, said hi to C, and then sat down. We started a game of Risk, which I'd never played before. C pulled me aside and said: I don't know if you looked at the event, but guess who might be coming tonight? I laughed and shook my head. Yeah right, I said. He won't come, I guarantee it. There's no way I'd really be that lucky. We laughed a bit. I said all of this right in front of N, by the way, but at the time I didn't stop to think about it. I figured G wouldn't come anyway, because it always happens to me- I go somewhere expecting to see someone, and that one person I wanted to be there the most doesn't make it and I wind up disappointed and lonely- and so I wasn't expecting much. Of course, I was really hoping I was wrong, but I kept it to myself.

Within 15 minutes of my arrival, though, I started hitting it off very well with N. We sat next to each other during Risk, and once I got the hang of the game (enough to conquer Europe and put everyone else in jeopardy :3) he would attack me mercilessly (I respect a guy who doesn't go easy on me or let me win things just because I'm a girl). He was very easy to talk to, and we kept lapsing into conversation between turns. C and M were extremely patient about this, even though it held up the game a few times.

We somehow got on the topic of Europe, then of absinthe, and C announced that they still had some left over from a bottle some friends brought back from Europe. Not the hallucinogenic old-school kind, of course, but still hella strong, bro. C poured the last two shots out, each in a separate glass. She put a sugar cube in one, and left the other plain, so that we could try it both ways. The stuff was ridiculously bitter and strong, and the colour alone was enough to convince you that you might just be drinking antifreeze, even with the sugar. My ears became much warmer afterwards, that's for sure.

N and I both managed to catch a buzz off the absinthe- he doesn't seem like a big drinker, he's a health and fitness type- and started talking even more. I really couldn't believe the things coming out of this guy's mouth. I've had a LOT of guys say they're into something just to impress me, and then later it turns out they were bullshitting all along. More commonly, they pretend to be super intelligent, and then once I actually talk to them I discover that they're really nowhere near as smart as they're pretending to be. I understand that people will sometimes bring out the better sides of themselves when they're courting someone, but honestly. Guys will usually ask me questions about what I like and like to do, and then when I answer, they say "oh yeah, me too!"

Eye roll.

No, he beat me to the punch. I don't think I've ever heard a guy prefix a sentence with "I was watching this documentary-" in my life until then... but it's something I say all the time (and, subsequently, blush about when everyone laughs at me for being a nerd). He talked about playing guitar and liking classic rock before I said anything, which lets me know that he's not just saying this stuff to get on my good side. And when I said that I would rather go to the AGO or the ROM than out to a club or a bar any day, his face instantly lit up.

Oh, this must sound so nerdy. And it is.

The game (shit, I lost) continued. I leaned back in my chair and one of the wooden rungs hit me square in the sore spot I have right above my left SI. I think I've mentioned it before, if not, it's a very tender, swollen spot right above where the bone sticks out (strangely, not on the bone itself) and although it isn't actually a bruise, it feels like a bad one. Anyway, the wood hit my sore spot and I suddenly jerked forward. I didn't yelp or anything, I held it back, but holy shit it hurt. N was immediately concerned and asked me if I was okay. I said yes, just a sore back. Waved it off. He tried to question me more, but the confusion of the continuing game of Risk made it easy for me to elude his questions. I really didn't feel like explaining my pain to N, especially since- aside from the sore spot which is always sore- my pain wasn't all that bad at that moment in time. Also, I was starting to sort of like him, and so the last thing I wanted to talk about was one of the myriad of health problems I have. He still seemed concerned, but he let it go.

Anyway, after Europe fell to M's red pieces (I held my own extremely well for being a first-timer, and got a round of high-fives for my efforts), I was sitting there watching M and N battle it out when I got a text message. It was G.

"Are you at C's house right now?"

I replied that, yes, I was. I asked if he was in London and he said he was still in Hamilton, but he could leave right now. He just wanted to know if it was still worth it to come, he said.

I responded that it was up to him, that the Games Night would probably go quite late so he could easily have a few hours here, but it depended mostly on how late he wanted to be driving back.

He said that he didn't really want to be driving back so late. I said, well, there's always next time. Smiley face. Would I have offered to let G stay over if I hadn't met N? Maybe. He probably would have declined, but the point is... G wasn't coming.

Somehow, I was less disappointed about this than I expected to be.

Towards the end of Risk, a few more of C and M's friends showed up- two sets of couples- and we all sat and played a bit of cards. Between games, N and I stood beside each other and looked through one of the books that C had had lying around. One was a big coffee table book about this history of chocolate, and there were some incredible pieces of artwork inside- vintage advertisements from the 1950's all the way back to the 1800's, old woodcuttings, paintings, pictures of the Mayan pyramids- in addition to the written content of the book itself. It turned out that he could speed-read, just like me, and also that he enjoyed fine art and vintage advertisements, just like me.

I could read with him all day.

After we finished the book, we talked more. (Of course. :3) He seemed to love looking at me, and always directly in the eye at that. He has amazing blue eyes. He said that it was funny, he was so used to having to dumb things down or explain everything whenever he would talk to some of his other friends, but somehow I could easily keep up with him, even though we'd just met. I knew exactly how he felt, because I felt the same way. I usually just keep quiet around most of my friends because a lot of what I say either goes right over their heads or strikes them as "too nerdy". Yet with him, I could say anything... and he was right there with me on it. Genuinely smart.

He sat or stood next to me the whole time. When he sat in the comfy recliner, I perched on the arm of it. When I left the room and came back, he had vacated the recliner and was sitting in another chair he'd pulled up beside it. I was extremely thankful for this, because my spine and rear end are very bruised from sitting on hard chairs, and I was also scared of hitting my sore spot again. When everyone was playing a card game around the coffee table, he pulled the recliner closer to the table for me... while I was still in it. Haha.

He'd offered me a ride home earlier in the evening, which was awesome because otherwise I'd have wound up sleeping on C and M's couch. We walked out to the parking lot in the still, cold night after saying our goodbyes, just shortly after midnight. We talked non-stop the entire way home. I asked him what he does, and he told me he's a kinesiologist, which is how he originally met C (she works in the field as well). I told him I've worked as a chiropractic assistant, which he thought was very cool, and he even asked me which chiropractors I've met and worked with. When we pulled into my driveway, I had the urge to ask him if he felt like going for a drive, but I didn't. It was late.

He asked if he could have my number, and I gave it to him. He gave me his. He asked if it would be okay for him to call me sometime, and perhaps we could have a coffee or go to the AGO or something. I said absolutely, any time. We said goodnight and hugged each other. He waited by the end of the driveway and flashed his lights when I waved to him from the gate.

It's almost 4:00 the next day. I'm extremely tempted to send him a text message, or something. I don't know. I want to ask him if he'll go for a walk with me. Nobody ever takes walks with me, so if he says yes... then maybe we're on to something...

...

... alright, so he's out of town visiting his parents for the rest of the day. When he comes back into London tomorrow afternoon, we are going to hang out and go for a walk. Wow, imagine that? :)



xx.