Alex- First Date

Have you ever genuinely hoped you'd like someone? That's how it was with Alex Marlowe. I had known his family for several years, and had been friends with almost all his siblings when he asked me out. I was surfing through the newsfeed on Facebook and after a thumb swipe I saw a Sherlock joke. It was also a sibling joke about his middle brother feeling dumb in comparison to how fast Alex read. I immediately thought of my middle brother, who had the tough racket of being third of four kids with a genius little brother, smart older sister, and me. Pretty much a goody two shoes, as my sister always liked to put it. I commented on Alex's post, remarking on the commonalities of our big families. He wrote back. I thought hmmm.... I will send him a message, I'm not a middle aged, no Facebook etiquette kind of lady. Thus our talking began. Alex messaged me all day about books, life, who we are. My favorite part was when we talked about Lord of the Rings. Alex admitted how he had always wanted to be like Gandalf or Aragorn. But he admitted freely that in the Hobbit he was definitely Bilbo. I pointed out neither or the previous characters were protagonists. Biblo is because his courage and importance has to be discovered by the reader and himself. Alex said he liked the way I talked. Later he asked me out. Plain and simple, straightforward. No, “Umm you wanna chill at this party I might be at?”

          Our date was scheduled for the Saturday after my graduation from grad school. He called me everyday that week. And I loved every minute. That’s what I meant by hoping to like a person. I liked Alex on the phone so much I worried that something wouldn’t click in real life.

          When he showed up at my apartment that Saturday looking like a little old British man with an umbrella, I thought he was precious. Especially since I had to guide him street for street to my house due to his complete lack of direction. The ice was broken. He walked in and in a moment light shone right on his face and I saw the green orbs that were his eyes. A Marlowe kid trait. That was the first moment I began to realize that to me, Alex was beautiful.

         But I still didn’t know would this work, was I attracted to him. We went to the zoo and walked around enjoying the day. I got a good vibe. He had earned a trip to a wonderful river spot I call “the secret place”. We went and walked along the rocks in the creek. Alex was not a graceful wood ballerina like his sister, but a goofy squawking man. It was funny. But we talked and wove our tales of woe in love and I liked him all the more. While dangling our feet from a log, or dipping them gingerly in the creek.

         At the end of the evening I had made tacos and we sat on the couch watching Dr. Who. I snuggled in close as we watched “The Tomb of the Cybermen”, and made some goofy commentary and one inappropriate joke about foam. He won me over. We went on one more adventure/walk to the Founder’s Garden on campus. We lay in the grass and looked at the colors reflected on tree leaves. I told Alex to close his eyes so we could focus our senses on hearing and feeling. He asked if I was a romantic…yea just a bit. We walked home, and many hours of nervousness and internal battle later, I let him kiss me. And it was wonderful.