It's ok, I'll walk myself to my car in the dark.

Date #4


This one is a fun one to tell for me. I was on a streak of going on date after date and this one just made me realize that as much as I enjoyed the quantity of dates I was going on, I needed a bit more quality in them.
I had gone to visit a friend at her place of employment in the fall of 2010. While I was there I had noticed a guy who was giving me "crusty" looks. If you're not from Utah you probably don't know that that means to give someone dirty looks. I kept thinking that maybe he overheard something I said and was offended by it. He's a co worker of my friend and I know I'd seen him before but, I didn't know anything about him. He just kept giving me "crusties". The next day I receive a text from my friend saying, "What do you think about Rick?" I thought, "Who?" I didn't reply right away and then I realized she was talking about Mr. Crusty face. I thought she was asking me about what I thought of him professionally. I text her back saying I didn't know much about him but, other people seemed to like him and why was he giving me dirty looks the whole time I was there. Her reply was unexpected, "He wasn't giving you dirty looks, he was checking you out, he wants to take you out" Say what?? I was so shocked by this. I told her I would think about it. Now, I'm not one to say 'NO' to a date but, I didn't get the best first impression from this guy. I had known who he was for about 4 years and was never really interested in getting to know him better. I talked with some people I work with that know him and they all said I should go out with him. I only had one friend who said, "if you go out with him, I'll laugh for days and days." I appreciated her honesty, but I gave in to peer pressure and said he could have my number.
He started texting me and asking typical getting to know you questions. They were all pretty standard but, the one that stuck out to me was something along the lines of, "how do you feel about exercise" OK guys, I'm sure your intentions in asking this is innocent but, as a woman I can't help but think "Are you saying I'm fat?!" I guess working out was really important to him and he wanted to see how it was to me. I told him I believe in exercise.
Flash forward to our date that weekend. He lived in the Provo area and I was in Lehi so we agreed to meet at a restaurant in Provo after work on Friday. I had parked in a garage behind the place. I went around front and found him waiting for me. We went in and were seated pretty close to the front door. We didn't really have much in common but, what we do for work is similar so that was our saving grace. It's all we had to talk about. At one point someone had come in the front door and hadn't shut it right away and he breaks our conversation and says probably louder than he should, "Ugh, is someone going to close that door?!" It just seemed unnecessary to me. His personality came across as being very harsh and abrasive to me. I have always liked sarcastic guys but, this was a little beyond that for my liking. Also, over dinner I noticed that his face always looks like he's giving dirty looks. He's very expressive when he talks. After we were finished, we walked out the door, I thanked him for dinner and his time. Normally this is where the guy asks where you are parked so he can walk you to your car, and give you a hug and thank you for the date as well. With his hands shoved into the pockets of his tight jeans he says, "Well, this is me, see you later" and walks to his car parked right out front under a well lit street. I stand there perplexed for a moment, smile and walk to my car, which was parked in the dark parking garage. I get in the car and drive home. All the while I can't control myself any longer. I laughed the entire way home. I'm not sure why but, It just struck me as one of those "did that just happen?" moments.
I never heard from "Rick" again in a dating setting but, I still see him around occasionally. Although this time I think he really is giving me a crusty instead of checking me out.