Mary and I met on a blind date that was set up by our mutual friend Sam. He and I met during the summer before high school. Sam met Mary when he moved into the apartment complex across the street from her. For the longest time he had talked about setting us up on a date, but for whatever reason, it never worked out. We finally settled on having dinner one Sunday afternoon at Sam's apartment. I made the chicken and Sam warmed up frozen vegetables. His date made the dessert and Mary brought the mashed potatoes. She must have started growing them that morning because she showed up really late! The dinner was good (slightly cold by the time she got there) and the conversation interesting. Everyone else knew each other, and trying to have a "get to know you" conversation in front of them was challenging. Plus, I had a hard time maintaining eye contact because she had the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen. Once dinner was over, Mary and I were able to sit down and finally have a constructive conversation. I was really impressed by her and wondered the whole time why she was still sitting there talking to me! The next thing I knew, we had been talking for about two hours. I offered to walk her to her house. You can never be too careful crossing the street. We ended up talking a while longer at her door. I was nervous the whole time because I knew the conversation couldn't end unless I got her number. I stuttered a lot and made a fool of myself, but I got the seven numbers I needed...and got off the porch as quickly as possible. Before she could change her mind.
When Sam told me he had a friend he wanted to line me up with, I hardly gave it a second thought. Anyone Sam lined me up with would be a total mismatch, I thought. How wrong that would prove to be! After several attempts to set us up however, I finally consented to the dinner. I thought that it would be an easy out for me without letting Sam down. Of course I hoped for a positive outcome, but didn't really expect one. After all, I didn't really believe in fairytale love stories... I ended up being really sick on the day of the dinner and hardly felt like going. I dragged my feet getting ready and took a long time making the potatoes. Finally, I gathered up all of the energy I could and walked over to Sam's. Everyone was waiting and I felt that the whole introduction part couldn't have been more awkward. But soon we were all eating and the focus was off of us and I had time to really look at Paul. He was absolutely adorable and it was hard to keep my eyes off of him. Just watching him through dinner, he struck me as a really solid person and I relaxed a bit. He was mature and easy-going and had a good sense of humor. I wanted to get to know him better, but found that making any conversation over dinner was kinda difficult. I was glad when we were able to talk afterward, and found that the more we talked, the more I liked him. I was really happy when he offered to walk me home and enjoyed the few extra minutes we had on my front porch. I still didn't really think that this would go anywhere but was surprised when he asked for my number. I assumed that he already had it from Sam or would get it from him later. But I took that as a good sign and started looking forward to our next date.
