Between the first and second date with Andy #1, I went on a date with Andy #2. The date was weird to say the least (but when have I ever said the least!). He chose this restaurant that ended up being attached to a hotel, but not like a fancy or funky hotel—a nearly suburban hotel. The restaurant, which we didn’t really need since we were just going for drinks, was so empty you could hear a shoe squeak and so well-lit I wanted to wear sunglasses (I didn’t because I’m not a psycho, but you get the drift). Somewhere between laughing at how awkward and weird this place was and having excellent banter, we fell in love. I’m joking of course. Just once I want there to be a need to write out the dialogue exactly as it happened because we were both so hilarious and interesting the page necessitates it. Which isn’t to say that the banter was bad. It was good enough. He asked lots of questions (as did I) and the conversation flowed as it does. He was a film producer (in about the same way that I’m a writer). We were both trying. We were artists getting by. We were creatives with dreams. Two hours had passed, and we were the only people left in the restaurant.
While walking to my car a few blocks from the restaurant, we stopped at an intersection to let a car pass, and he pulled me close and kissed me. As someone who avoids PDA like the plague, I’m not a fan of the public first-date kiss. But his lips were pillowy soft and matched perfectly with my rhythm and just like that we were two full-grown adults kissing on a street corner. Luckily, the street corner knew how to dim its lights (a lesson that restaurant would do good to learn).
Men regularly tell me that I’m a great kisser, so much so that I assume they say it to all the women they kiss every time they kiss them. I’ve never thought that much of it except to note that I rarely return the compliment because I’m an honest bitch and I don’t give compliments I don’t mean (handjobs, sure, but never compliments). When Andy #2 kissed me on that street corner, I melted (purely from the physicality of it all). Andy was a nice enough guy, but I was by no means swooning over him, that is until he kissed me with those delicious lips and perfect technique.