I received a text from a random number around 4:45am asking whether we made it home safely. In my sleepy stupor I was rather mean and replied “who is this.” I woke Savannah up in order to ask her who would be texting me. “Alena, it’s that hot gay guy that was buying Zack drinks!” He was just another beautiful man batting for the opposing team. I then thanked him from the bottom of my heart, and he instantly replied. After texting back and forth for a while, I realized that we had been completely mistaken about him. Charlie was far from homosexual. In fact, that drink he took with my friend was actually meant for me! Being a very adventurous drunk, I had managed to escape him while he was ordering. I swear sometimes I see something shiny and just run after it or something.
He was rather mistaken about us as well. Since us girls were paired with an Idaho boy, he thought we were all couples. Not to say that we weren’t flattered (Idaho boys are great, but this was not the case. All of his friends had called it a night, but he randomly decided to stop in for a beer at the 13th Step. We needed another person to join in our flip-cup rally, and there he appeared out of nowhere. I grabbed onto him telling him that he was going to play. No questions were asked. One beer turned into several, as he was given no choice in joining the boy’s team. I kind of feel bad about it now, but I doubt that this lone straggler to the 13th Step minded being included.
We talked all Sunday over the phone, and got into some fairly deep topics. I added him on Facebook so that I could creep and reaffirm my hazy memory of the night before. He was definitely as handsome as I had remembered, and just as nice as he had been at the Step. At last, my intense charm and good looks (I can’t help that I’m really, really, ridiculously good-looking) got me a date with this boy. Hopefully I also wowed him with my intellectual abilities as well because I hate when people think that you’re all beauty and no brains. We planned on exploring all of central park (moonlit walks in the park must be just as romantic as moonlit walks on the beach), but I ended up working far past the time we had planned on meeting.
I don’t leave, or ask to leave work until my boss tells me to. I’m motivated, and I also enjoy being a butt-kisser I guess, because I ended up staying until around seven. Usually I get off around five, but Hudson has been extremely busy lately. Being two hours after our scheduled meeting time, we cancelled our sunset-walk plans and decided to do dinner instead. He gave me the option between great food in Little Italy, or good food at a great location along the Hudson River. Showcasing my indecisive qualities a little too early in the game, I finally settled on the second option. I’m always more about the atmosphere than the food, though great food is definitely desirable. You can get amazing food anywhere in the world, but you can only see certain sights in specific places,
We met up on the Upper East Side and walked under Central Park along a roadway. From the beginning he said that he needed to walk on the side of traffic because it made him uncomfortable any other way. Such a gentlemen, the world needs more of those. Good thing he did this because we walked under a tunnel, and at that exact moment, I car 15 feet in front of us hit the barrier, bounced back off, and kept driving. It was absolutely terrifying, but the fact that Charlie was on the outside made it a little bit better. Apparently he has superhuman powers or something, and thinks that he could stop a car from us. Though I doubt this would have actually been the case, he was calm, so I stayed conveniently unruffled.
At the end of our long walk from East to West side, we came upon a quarried rock roundabout with stairs leading down to one side. When we came to the bottom of the spiraling stairs, we went through a tunnel into the center of the roundabout. Under this rock roadway, the little restaurant was housed. It was so neat! I’d never seen or heard about the place, but it was far more interesting than I had ever anticipated. It was starting to sprinkle, so they weren’t seating people outside on the riverside patio. I was about to order blue moon with an orange slice until Charlie convinced me to try Blue Moon with a shot of orange vodka mixed in. I’d never heard of it, but supposedly it’s a native drink to UofA. It was a great idea.
When we got our food, we decided we wanted to sit out on the patio, even if it was raining. They wouldn’t serve us out there, but we were allowed to take our food out and seat ourselves. About halfway through dinner, it was absolutely pouring, but I didn’t even notice since our conversation was so easy and fun. It wasn’t until after dinner that I realized I was drenched from head to toe. The rain cool, the summer air was warm, the view was amazing, the food was good, and all was right in my little world. It probably looked like Kiss had joined our party with my makeup streaming down my face, but I didn’t really care, and neither did he as he sat eating his soggy chips. It was as cute as a first date could ever be.
We talked about our careers and life accomplishments and I realized that, for his young age, Charlie was very successful. I think that success is one of the most attractive characteristics that one can entail. Not your share of your parent’s success, but the accomplishments you make all on your own. It’s really refreshing to meet someone so obsessed with his future/creating the best life possible for himself. I try hard at everything, and I love meeting people with the same mindset as I have about work. Especially in men, it just seems so rare to find maturity when in their early 20s. I was definitely surprised and relieved to know that the guy I was with was going to be doing big things. He was unreal!
We hopped to a few other bars before catching a cab home. I had to work in the morning, and he was supposed to pack for his big move to Cali for his new job, but we didn’t end up leaving the bars until closing time. He was just too much fun to part with earlier. We got along great, he was genuine, charming, and overall a beautiful piece of art. It was a strange chance of fate that we would meet and get along so well while in such different places in our lives. He is graduated and beginning a career while I’m still in school for at least another year. Connections like these are always meant to be. Regardless what the future holds, I know he will be a great person to have known. Though I’m not sure how he managed to snag my number in the midst of thinking I was in a relationship, I’m sure glad that he did. 🙂
Always,
Alena Netia Horowitz
