Bobbing for Adam’s Apple in the Big Apple – Part II
Before I go on, let me be clear: I was not looking to get laid in New York. All I really wanted (and I know that none of you will believe me), was to explore New York in an adventurous way, and maybe meet some cool people along the way. Back to the story...
At this point in the adventure, it was 11:45am and I had had a fruitful morning: I had a ticket to go see Mamma Mia! on Broadway, and... 2 dates lined up for the evening! Let me introduce to you, the lucky guys:
My first date was to be with Adam – a ‘startup consultant’ (whatever that means). Adam was 27 (my age) and 6’1”. His profile intrigued me (he claimed to be of Frech-Persian-Indian background) as did his initial message to me:
I just had to say ‘Hello’, otherwise I would have kicked myself later. Self inflicting pain is never fun
You not only have an interesting look but you seem like a fun & friendly person, which is rare to find in these parts. The typical lot on here are gunslingers or self-confessed alcoholics lol.
Let’s get to know each other...
Cheers,
Adam
Since I had told Adam that I was going to a Broadway show in the Theatre District at 8pm that evening, he thoughtfully recommended that we meet at 6pm at a Frech-Moroccan cafe called Marseille, located walking distance to the theatre. Over texts, it sounded like he knew what he was talking about, so I agreed to the suggested time and venue.
The second date of the night would be with Tony. After a bit of haggling over where to meet (he wanted to meet me by the hotel, and then go somewhere for a drink, whilst I kept insisting we meet at a particular venue… for obvious safety issues) he suggested a rooftop bar on 5th and 23rd. Our date was to be at 1am, because Tony was a chef and his shift didn’t end until 12:30am. It’s a good thing than in New York bars don’t close until 4am! Still, a date in NYC with some random from online is a dangerous endeavor, so I had other safety precautions planned which I’ll get into later.
Fast forward to 6pm, and I’m walking from my hotel to meet up with bar, dressed in chic white chiffon dress with a plunging v-neckline. In his profile, Adam claimed that he was 6’1” so I took a chance and wore heels. Adam got to the bar before me, and texted to let me know he was waiting (God bless men who are timely!) at the bar. I recognized him right away when I walked in, and settled into a bar stool next to his.
I will save you the details of 'he said, she said' and simply say that Adam and I really hit it off. It’s the kind of feeling that you wish you had after every date. We talked about everything and anything, yet somehow managing to avoid the formulaic date questions. Adam was good-looking, genuine and witty. My mission was off to a great start!
There are just 2 things that I’ll mention of our conversation, that are important for later on in the story. Adam recommended that I visit Vosges, a chocolate store in Soho that is owned by a Russian woman who imports & mixes exotic ingredients to make amazing chocolate. We also discovered we had a mutual appreciation for psychology, and he mentioned a lecture by a renowned English psychiatrist Raj Persaud (the lecture is: Psychology of Seduction) and offered to send me a link, which I eagerly accepted.
About half an hour before my show, Adam paid for my drinks and salad (a pleasant surprise since in Ottawa I’m hard-pressed to find a guy who’ll pay for my coffee) and walked me to my show. As we were walking, I mentioned that it was very pleasant to be in heels and still be eye level with someone, instead of towering over them. Then I had a mini-rant about how most guys in Ottawa were below the national average heigh of 5’8”. Adam nodded to acknowledge what I was saying, then pulled me in and kissed me. Twice.
Pleasantly taken aback, I mumbled a self-deprecating remark about how – if I known he was going to kiss me – I wouldn’t have ordered a blue-cheese salad for supper. To that, he tongue-in-cheekily replied that next time he’ll get me to stop at a drug store to get gum before he kisses me. Then he dropped me off at my show, wished me a good time, and departed. He followed up with a text after the show, but I didn’t pursue conversation as I was now anxiously looking forward to Date #2 with Tony. Although I couldn’t possibly imagine that it would go any better than the date with Adam.
Originally, Tony had suggested we meet at the 230 Fifth Rooftop Bar. I never actually had any intention of meeting some random dude at a bar alone in NYC. I had planned all along to convince my colleagues to go to that bar for the evening’s festivities, so they could ‘chaperone’ while I was dating Tony. However, my plan failed, when they instead ended up at a bar in Soho, and I joined them. When Tony texted at 11:30 to confirm our date, I took the opportunity to change venue. He was OK with it.
In awaiting his arrival, I prepped my colleagues of what was to come. Specifically, I asked that they stay at the bar until they were reassured that Tony wasn’t a creep. I also gave one of them is phone number. And, as a final precaution, I enabled my Google Latitude so others could see where I was at all times (although, having AGPS, that wasn’t a lot of help since at one point, I was seen in the middle of Hudson River). In any case, I felt ‘safe’ meeting up with Tony.
When he showed up (late), he seemed really nice. We grabbed a drink, sat down and got to talking. Tony seemed nice enough, but in contrast to my date with Adam, there were some awkward silences at times. The other awkward thing about Tony is how TOTALLY into me he was; to the point where I felt uncomfortable. This is probably because dudes in Ottawa are absolutely not forthcoming with how they feel about you and you have to pay cash to get a compliment, but luckily Tony made up for every guy I had ever gone on a date with, saying things like: “You are so beautiful; you look much better than in your pictures” and “I really like you. I would like to see you tomorrow” and (my personal favorite) “You should really move to New York”. As if.
So, doing my best to be non-committal, and laughing off his proposal to move to New York, I was busy mentally plotting my escape route. By 2:30am, about an hour into our date, I felt I had put in enough effort into Tony to justify leaving. To precipitate my departure, I told him that I had arranged to meet some friends at a club in the Meat Packing district and needed to be on my way (I didn't actually make that up; my friends were at a club and had suggested I meet up with them after my date was over). Clearly disappointed, Tony tried to talk me out of it, saying that he “really hoped that we could spend more time together”. I barely avoided rolling my eyes at him, whilst steadfastly repeating that I had to go. We hopped into a cab together, made out, and then he dropped me off at the bar. Resisting his pleas to join me at the bar, I said my goodbyes and went off.
My day's mission completed, I felt compeled to relax and have a good time. After all, I had another mission for next day: to convince Adam to go on a 2nd date with me. Fully commited to not thinking about that until the next day, I partied until the bars closed. At the end, there was another positive twist to the evening when my friend and I ended up getting a limo back to the hotel… for $30! But, we actually only paid $10 because we ended up sharing it with 2 guys who were headed in a completely opposite direction, so they picked up the rest of the tab. What a night!