When You're Young and Pretty, by Rock

So I'm sure all 5 of you have been DYING to hear about my trip with 2.0. It's been a crazy week, and I needed a little time to process. Not that it didn't go well.

I headed over to his place on Friday afternoon, and brought champagne as a congratulations for his crazy month (almost) being over. He seemed genuinely touched, and we relaxed with some champagne until it was time to leave. When he put on his backpack without first putting on his coat, I teased him a little, but thought nothing of it. We cabbed it over to the airport, and it was clear that he was still in work mode a bit. Let's not forget, that this trip was happening because he had to NY for work, and while his company wanted him there a few days earlier than everyone else, he would mostly have time to enjoy the city. That's where I came in.

In line for security, he brought up me teasing him about "forgetting" his coat. "I wasn't going to forget it. I was doing a dry run." I kept teasing him since he wouldn't admit that he made a silly mistake.

Then some bitch of a woman behind us says to him, "You can slap him if you want." We both kind of laughed. I said, "Did you hear the whole story? Cause if you did, you would be on my side." She admitted to hearing just the end. But I was being "obnoxious."

So the three of us stood there in pretty much silence. Somehow it came up again on the other side of security and I offered the flippant apology myself. The old standard: "Well I was totally just teasing you, but I'm sorry that it upset you."

We ordered food and sat down and I was still unhappy with it. He made attempts to move on. I finally said, "I'm unhappy with my apology, it was flippant. I do think that you were being extremely, out-of-character sensitive earlier, but I apologize that I didn't pick up on that earlier than I did."

He said, "I appreciate that. I will admit that the past few weeks, I have been extremely sensitive and tired and out-of-character. So I apologize for that." And I said that I appreciated that.

We played cards until it was time to board. The flight was uneventful. We were both tired when we landed and pretty much got food and went right to bed.

It's hard for me to transition into that "we're together but we're both tired or out of it" mentality, especially when someone has just told you that they're not ready for the "boyfriend" word, unlike previous conversations had led you to believe. To me, that word invokes a sort of safety net for the few off days you're going to have. But on this night, I was tired enough to just go to bed no worries.

We woke up and cuddled for a bit and flirted with the idea of fooling around. But then we had to go meet his friend for brunch so it was postponed for after we checked into our second hotel. He still seemed a little distracted through lunch, and about halfway through the museum we checked out after. But then there was just this shift where he decided he could finally have fun. We were packing up at our first hotel and I was lying on the bed waiting for him. He bent down and kissed me, and my god if I hadn't been waiting for something like that for the past two weeks. That kiss might have been the highlight of my trip.

And from that moment, things were amazing. We checked into the second hotel and immediately got down and dirty. We had dinner and saw a show. We picked up some beer and cuddled and watched SNL. The next morning he had to run some errands before he had to report for work. We turned it into a little shopping trip and had fun.

We stopped at a cafe for a little snack and I said, "I like to talk too much, you know this, but I wanted to say that the past few weeks have been a little iffy, and I think we were both kind of looking to this trip to see how it went." He nodded his head in a "that's fair to say" kind of way. I continued, "But I've had a really great time with you this trip, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how February goes."

"It's almost here," he said with a smile.

And that's honestly where I am. We had a big stick thrown in our timeline with January being so crazy. If the guy I started falling for continues to be back, then great. If not, moving on.

This past week has been a bad indicator. He was in New York still through Thursday, getting very little sleep and being busy all day. I flat out told him that I realized he would be crazy so to not feel like he needed to get in touch with me all the time. I got a text or two and a phone call and that was about what I expected. Now he's in Vegas for the weekend with a friend. I've been promised drunk dials, but none so far. Just a text. RuPaul says that "expectations create resentment" and I'm trying my best to remember that. And remember that this week is a wash and some decisions can be made next week when we have a date on Tuesday and are going to see a concert with some friends of his on Friday.

I had this realization that possibly I demand too much from partners. I'm trying to make an effort right now to uphold my standards and wishes, while lowering expectations just a bit. I get a little upset when guys don't follow the same thought processes that I do, but really if I dated myself I would go crazy. So either I have a good time with someone or I don't, and that's it. But I'm just ready to actually evaluate without any outside influence.

And So It Goes, by Rock

Last night, two of my very good friends (pretty much my only set of "couple" friends that I approve of the relationship 100%) were in town. 2.0 and I met up with them for dinner and board games. It was BY FAR the most fun I've ever had on a double date. He held his own quite well, and it wasn't long before the friends were whispering their approvals.

On the walk back to my place, he invited me to accompany him in about 4 weeks on a the first half of a business trip to one of my favorite cities in the world. I told him I would love to if it worked out. I then said (About 7 beers in. Bravery in a bottle):

"So if you're inviting me on trips, what exactly are we? Are we ready for that word?"

This led to a conversation right inside my front door where we talked about what the b-word means to us: the honor and pride and seriousness it conveys. We both felt emotionally "there," but felt that if it was used too early it could cheapen it. We both admitted that we would be each other's next boyfriend. We talked again about how we were dating exclusively. I weighed all of this in my head and considered the following:

-I like his friends. His friends like me.

-He likes my friends. My friends like him.

-He likes me, and shows and tells this numerous times a day.

-He's considerate and kind.

-We want the same things in life.

-Using the b-word doesn't mean you're married. It just means that you think the other person is special and you're excited for the potential future.

-He has a really big penis.

I told him that whether it was tonight or in twenty more dates, he had a boyfriend when he wanted one. I told him to mull it over. He told me that yes, we should be boyfriends.

So I have a boyfriend. Time will tell if he's "the one" or the future EE#7.

And then...

We finally had sex. Eyes rolling back into their sockets sex. Keeping my douchebag-neighbor-who-so-had-it-coming up at 4a because I'm screaming so loud sex. Was sore all day today sex.

Totally worth the wait.

This morning I told him my concerns about the trip. I have had issues in the past (EE#2 with the lease and EE#5 with the Australia trip) where relationships went on longer than they should because of "plans." I told him my condition would be that I had flight insurance and he would promise to break-up with me if he was over it before the trip and not just "get through" that weekend.

He understood where I was coming from and agreed. I thought about it all day, and decided that one of my resolutions for 2011 was to go to this city, I will have a free hotel, I will have someone helping with airfare, I'm all about just acting like things are going to go my way because they usually do, yes. I'm going.

After we discussed the trip, we did one of my favorite things that we do where we lie in bed and hold each other and talk about how awesome we are. I call them (to his face, I totally call us out) our "patting ourselves on the backs conversations." It's not the catchiest name, but I'm working on it. This morning it was about how lucky we are that we're both really sweet and cuddly but then still really like sex and think it's important.

I can hear you gag as you read this.