Glory Dates

Writer's workshop prompt of choice:  A memorable date.

Confession time:  I've only ever been on one date.  It was horrible.  So I'm going to tell you about a time when I went on a pseudo-date with one of my best friends instead.

My sweet friend Andy is one of my closest friends in the whole entire world.  He's the main one I think of when arguing the whole "men can't have friendships with women" thing (though there are other examples as well), because we're such good friends without having any desire to be romantically involved.

Andy and I worked together in the housing department of our university our sophomore year in school, and we lived in close proximity as a result.  We weren't all that great of friends until the very end of the year, though, when a staff game of Assassins gave us a common enemy in one of our coworkers.  Let's just say that this girl didn't have any Southern charms, and she had rubbed each of us the wrong way long enough.  So Andy and I bonded as we tried to slightly and covertly sabotage her life.

Junior year, Andy and I had to schedule our hang-out time since we lived a good trek away from each other and were both quite busy.  He would sometimes come over to watch a movie or listen to music or comment on how jealous he was of my sweet apartment; most of the time, though, we took part in my favorite collegiate pastime.

That would be going out to eat.

I'm not sure that we went anywhere by ourselves all that often.  Usually we went out with a bunch of other people, especially when Andy joined our core dinner group of a few close friends (good gracious, I might miss those weekly dinners more than anything else from college).  I remember one time, though, when we met at one of my favorite places downtown for an impromptu lunch.

It was one of those times when I didn't have anything to do for several hours, and it's then that I tend to call a bunch of people to see who's free.  Andy was un-booked, so we met on the quad and headed up to Spanky's for fish tacos (I think.  Or maybe a club sandwich.) and a guacamole burger (this is definitely what I got since I never change my order).  It was such a relaxing lunch, having nowhere to be, with my dear friend across the table from me, guacamole sliming my hands and sweet tea refreshing my palette.  We just sat and talked about nothing and everything for over an hour.  Conversation is so easy with Andy -- perhaps because he is always the one doing the talking?  :)  -- and I was quite comfortable with just being there.

On our way back towards campus, a few men were on the sidewalk handing out tiny fabric flowers in honor of a holiday or organization or something.  One of them handed a flower to Andy and said something like, "Here, just in case you don't give her enough flowers already."  I keep that little flower on my keychain still, not really thinking about where it came from, noticing it with surprise and renewed affection every now and then.  I expect I'll be really sad someday when I realize that the weathered red threads finally gave out and fell off at one time or another.

Other than the one terrible real date I've been on, that's the closest it gets for me.  Dare I be optimistic in hoping that, when I finally go on a real date, it will be as wonderful as the non-date I shared with Andy?

Perhaps I should give them his number before we go out and he can give them some pointers on how to treat me.  I'm sure they'll appreciate that.