Oooh, Frogfactory! Cupcakes indeed!
So, what does this mean, exactly? We want details - juicy, delicious details.
I have a bit of time, so I guess I'll spill.
Saturday basically couldn't have started worse. I got a message from 98 to ask if I was okay at about 7am. I said I was fine - he said he was concerned after my messages last night. I hadn't sent any messages the previous night after about 10pm because my connection was on the blink. Double checked my chat log - nothing odd there. He told me he'd received some weird IMs from me that didn't make much sense and were poorly spelled and it had freaked him out. I freaked out a bit myself, switched him to a different client and tried to reassure him I hadn't sent anything odd. That IM account has been stolen a couple of times before, so I suspected I might have a keylogger or something, but various scans hadn't been able to find it. 98 knows a lot about wireless security and stuff, and figured some local kid must have broken our encryption for sh*ts and giggles. (I have since updated everything and run a bunch of deep scans, which did actually find some crap on my computer, so hopefully this is sorted out)
Anyway, that made us a bit late to meet, and when we did, he seemed still a bit freaked out. We talked in the car on the way to breakfast, and it came out that his 'psycho' ex was literally that - paranoid schizophrenic with delusions of grandeur who went off the meds at some point after moving in with him, with not very fun times had between them after that. So our dear hacker had made him start to wonder if I was likewise unstable, and had sent him the weird messages as a result of some kind of episode I was having.
Quite unfortunate.
Anyway, we went to a Waffle House for some breakfast, and gradually managed to chill out. It was a long-ish drive to the caves, which was kind of good, because it was a chance to listen to the music we'd both been into as teenagers and tell each other stories about what this or that song reminded us of. It took some doing, but we managed to put the crazy IM thing behind us.
The caverns were fine - they were beautiful, but bulging at the seams with humanity. The 'tour' was a headphone thingy that meant that conversation was a bit difficult. To be honest, the caves were nice enough, but we had more fun playing with stuff in the gift shop afterwards. After the car museum we figured we should go walking somewhere in the national park nearby, but by the time we actually found where the car park and trails were, it was already 5pm (the day having been somewhat delayed by the computer-related morning freakout). Being a couple of hours from Froggyville, we decided to leave the hiking and go get dinner in a nice town just outside Froggyville.
We wandered around the waterfront and found a nice looking tapas place. He hadn't had tapas before, and absolutely loved it. It was indeed pretty good. Anyway, we shared a bottle of wine, and chatted away. Some comment I made about the chorizo (mmm, chorizo) made him laugh - I asked him what was up. He told me it reminded of him of the conversation we'd had in which my response had been "What, you just killed a pig with your bare hands and had sex with it", and added "That was when I first thought: I
really like this woman."
Aww.
Anyway, the band came on, and they were kind of fun to listen to for a few songs, but too loud to talk over, so we got a table upstairs where it was quieter and empty of other patrons, and sat next to, rather than across from each other (at this point I think it was fairly clear that this was turning into one of those dances people do around each other when courting). We talked some more, leaned against each other a little, but I think he was starting to panic a little (nerd!) and I was sure he wasn't about to make any overt moves himself. I thought about cupcakes, and found a moment to put my hand on his arm. I half expected him to flinch, but instead he took my hand in his and held it.
So I kissed him. It went well.
From there it was the most natural thing in the world. I felt like a teenager. At some point, some more people were seated upstairs, so I suggested we should go hang out on the benches by the waterfront if we were going to neck like a pair of teenagers, rather than be thrown out, so we did. After a bit I think it hit us that it was nearly 1am, and we'd been up since about 6am. And that driving home on the highways tired and a bit tipsy would probably not be wise, so we got the train back to mine. No euphemising went on, I should report, mainly because we were very tired, but also because I didn't want to make that sort of decision under the influence. Because I
like this guy. (This makes sense, in the same way that the cupcake thing did.)
Anyway, I had to go into the lab on Sunday, so I went with him back to the little satellite town where the batmobile was parked, and we had brunch on the same waterfront. He told me it would break his heart if I turned out to be crazy down the line - I told him it'd break mine if he turned out to be cruel. We were both still tired, not being all that used to sharing a bed any more (seriously, it really does take practice), but it was nice being sleepily affectionate. We held hands, or walked with arms around each other. I don't think I've done that since I was 19 or so. He had to drive home to see his parents for a peri-birthday meal with them, and I had to get to the lab, so it was a few kisses goodbye in the batmobile, and I walked into the train station on air.
I'm staying at his tomorrow night, since we have to leave early to get to the theme park, which is far from 98ville and really far from Froggyville. So I need to make the cupcakes tonight and hope they're fine til Wednesday.
Juicy enough?
