In Which I Finally Meet Noah Wyle, by Rock

Noah Wyle had continued to text and talk on the phone when he suggested that this past Saturday night I come over after work to watch a movie and drink some wine. He apologized for the familiarity of the first date, but it was about all he could handle with all of the studying for finals (they're still not over). But since his best friend from high school took it upon himself to buy a ticket to visit him the day finals ended, it would probably be a while before he could have a real date and he was anxious to meet me.

I was exhausted as I headed over to meet him on Saturday. Work had been especially long and stressful. I was worried I wouldn't be able to stay awake.

He was visibly nervous as we sat down with some water instead of wine and started trading stories. He was a little different then I imagined. A little dorkier (not necessarily in a bad way). His hair was longer than it had been in most of the pictures (though it looked good). He has a tiny nose stud which I think is awful but maybe it'll grow on me. He was candid and sweet and very nervous about being on a date. Before entering med school he had lived in Hawaii for a year where dating wasn't a priority and then he entered med school and it stayed not a priority, so it had been a while for him.

And here is where I wonder if OKCupid is a good or bad thing. We were rated at a ridiculously high 93% match, 1% enemy. I don't know how far he would have gotten in a bar, but because of the rating I let him get over his nervousness and open up and he won me over.

We turned on a movie and sat close. I moved my arm into that "you can hold my hand if you want" position. He said, "So would it be presumptuous if I held your hand?" I laughed and said I wouldn't mind.

A little farther into the movie, there was some little exchange and I decided to go in for a quick little first kiss. Immediately the fireworks went off and this turned into one of the best make-out sessions of my life. The energy was just there.

Eventually he said that he needed to go to bed, but it was late and I was welcome to spend the night, though he wanted to take things relatively slow with me, and of course I shouldn't feel like I had to. I said I would take him up on the offer, but yes, I agreed that clothes should stay on.

So we made out some more and cuddled and flirted with crossing the line just the right amount. I mentioned that it didn't feel quite like a first date because we had been texting and talking on the phone so much.

He had to wake up early, but he let me stay and sleep in.

He invited me over tonight as well after work in lieu of a proper second date, just because of scheduling. If I get out of work early enough I'm sure I'll head over there. I am looking forward to a proper date. He's pretty new to this city and hasn't had a lot of time to explore. I told him to get ready for a night in which I introduce him to the best neighborhood (mine) along with the best beer, pizza or burger (his choice), ice cream, coffee, and company (mine).

We're headed on the track to something substantial though. We're both acting like it. Take it with a grain of salt, however, since we saw how it went with Charlie after I thought we were off to a good start. Especially since...

Some hesitations.

It's evident that we're both at a place in our life where we want to be in a relationship. I don't want us to be in a relationship just because we want to be. I don't think this would continue to a proposal or anything, but I could see us moving a little too quickly or being a little more enamored than we usually would be. So I'm aware of that.

His body is much better than mine. My fingers were admiring his hard stomach when he exclaimed, "Oh I haven't worked out in two months! I'm in awful shape." I told him to shut up, his body was much better than mine. I will be spending a lot more time in the gym to play catch up. If we end up dating this could be a good motivator. I list it under a hesitation though because it makes me insecure.

He likes to apologize for things and make sure I'm okay with things. "Is my arm okay behind you?" "I'm sorry am I moving too fast?" "Sorry I keep having to pee." "You don't have to come over tonight if you don't feel up to it. I won't be offended." "Sorry I'm shy at first." I have stressed multiple times that if I don't want to do something I won't. I have flat out told him to stop using the word "sorry" and to just relax. He has a grace period where he can be nervous, but I hope he gets over this.

Hopefully tonight will work out and we'll go from there!

A Drunken Review, by Rock

Here's a little experiment. Here's my retelling of my date tonight that I wrote while still drunk instead of the next morning after I've had time to reflect.

So this guy actually contacted me on OKCupid which is a rarity. Usually the people that I end up seeing are people I've first contacted. The ones that contact me are fat and/or ugly and/or old. Sorry to past commenters on this blog: fat and ugly and old don't do it for me.

This guy was in med school, had kind of a goofy smile, and was fun to talk to. He may have even been the first to suggest we hang out, which is really nice.

Since he is in med school, we will call him Scrubs.

He called me to make plans and got my voice mail. I called him back and got his voice mail as well. Instead of a clear concise voice mail, I rambled on for a minute and change about the siren in the background, how distracted I was, and an apology for the length and obnoxiousness of the voice mail. His return voice mail commented on my "stellar voice mail" and how it was okay I must be new to them.

He was already poking fun at me. Color me intrigued.

Where does that turn of phrase come from? Color me __________. It's kind of odd.

Anyways, it turns out he lives very close to where I work, so we agreed to meet for a drink when I got off tonight.

Aside from his goofy smile, he's your very typical upper-middle class suburban kid. Like the majority of guys I date he came out late in life. I don't know why this is a recurring pattern, but this kid has never had a real relationship which is a real red flag. He don't go out to gay bars a whole lot, most of his friends are straight. Been there, done that before (hello boy that broke my heart, not sure what EE number you are cause I'm drunk). He's pretty generic looking, which I seem to really like (fuck Angel and Spike, I was always all about Riley).

But he was charming and fun and I was smitten.

I wasn't sure if he was. We talked a lot about how attractive Darren Criss is. My efforts to entangle our legs didn't work out great. I think he's a little clueless about how things go.

Which could be great. 2.0 had such a stupid schedule of how things happen and what could happen and blah blah blah. I dunno, it could also be awful.

We couldn't stay out too late: he still had to finish up some homework. We walked as far as we could go together and then both went in for a nice first kiss. He said he was sure he would talk to me soon, I said I was sure he was right.

We texted a good night.

This could be fun.

However, I also have a first date with a dental student later this week. Also from OKCupid, I spoke to him on the phone for the first time this evening and there seems to be something there as well.

It's really nice though to finally be excited about some potential again. I was so disillusioned with the concept of love after 2.0 that it's really nice to think that it could possibly happen. Even if not with one of these guys, that it may be in my future. I was doubting it for a while.

Let's see how I handle this.

First Date 2 of 3, by Rock

It's barely worth writing about. We both enjoyed ourselves. I'm pretty sure we both found it pretty platonic. We had a drink and dinner then went back to my place and watched some television while partaking in a little pot. We hugged good-bye and said we should hang again.

No sparks, no zsa zsa zsu, no worries. Next!

The Faux Spaniard(1 of 3), by Rock

After class last night, I met up with one of the three guys I've been talking to. We met at a "trendy"ish burger and beer place that I had been wanting to try.

We hit it off fairly well. He's not at hot as 2.0, but he's definitely attractive. We had a nice witty dialogue going as we zoomed through obvious first date questions (Any siblings? What's your favorite Harry Potter?). I made the mistake of ordering the spiciest burger (or anything) that I've ever ordered in my life so I was tearing up as I ate, but we just laughed about that.

A possible red flag: he's never dated anyone for longer than 7 weeks. Not a dealbreaker, but something to be aware of. He also admitted to some self-esteem issues. I don't do well with these. Reassurance is not my strong suit.

It came time to pay the pretty substantial bill, he admitted that he took care of it on his last trip to the bathroom. I feigned frustration for a minute before graciously thanking him and secretly being impressed and super thankful. Rock is still recovering financially from that trip with 2.0.

I promised myself that there would be no second location, but after however many beers, I found myself offering him three options...

1- Say good night and go our separate ways.

2- Find a bar in the area for one more drink.

3- He could come over to my place to watch RuPaul's Drag Race, but we would not be fooling around.

He picked #3. And just like that, my new standards went out the window.

By this time, we were both pretty drunk. Now this guy is Polish and Irish, but was a Spanish major and studied abroad for a year. As he lost sobriety, he started speaking with a Spanish accent, which was kind of cute. Hence his moniker for this blog.

We were in the cab and sparing you the specifics he figured out the timeline for when I broke up with 2.0. He was a little awkward about how soon it was, but I assured him he wasn't a rebound and he remembered that people use OKCupid for lots of things, and he himself had been on many many dates in the past few weeks.

We got back to my place, and I went to turn on the tv and he went to take off my shirt. I wanted to fool around. I wanted my new standards as well. I called him out that I explicitly said I didn't want to do this, he said we could stop. I said we could keep going.

It is what it is. I'm not proud of it. But it's not the biggest of deals. It's not like I rounded home or anything.

We were fooling around and establishing those roles that gays have to establish when they fool around. He said to me, "Not to weird you out, it's really not that big of a deal, but I've never bottomed before. Or else I would want to right now."

Now let's get one thing clear. It was the first night we met. As far as I was concerned, no one was bottoming (and no one did). But that's another possible issue in the future should this progress. That's a big deal for someone.

But the fooling around was good. Actually better than the majority of fooling around with 2.0.

He left this morning. And then I did something that I will possibly regret.

I was supposed to see my favorite singer in the world tomorrow with 2.0. Now I have an extra ticket. My one friend around here that likes him already will be there. My other friends either don't really care for him or don't know who he is. I'm sure Doris would have kept me company, but she's not the biggest fan of him. I sent out a mass text to see if anyone was interested or knew who he was. No one really responded.

So I invited The Faux Spaniard. I told him my cousin bailed on me so I had an extra ticket. So date #2 is much sooner than I wanted it to be (and a little more personal than I wanted it to be: this singer means a lot to me), but que sera sera. At least I have someone to go with me. And out of necessity it will be at least a week until date #3 if he earns it and wants it.

Next week I have dates lined up on Monday and Tuesday with the other two guys that I've been talking to. Just talked to one of them on the phone to make plans. I liked the sound of his voice.