the maybe date pt. 2

shit. It just happened again. The maybe date.

Last week I went out to dinner with Wade, his sister Gia, his best friend Scott, and Scott's roommate Beliak. Wade is one of my best friends. Right now he is a guide for Outward Bound trips. I believe he is stationed in Minnesota, although last year he was doing trips in Texas. In any case, he was in LA on a break between trips to take Gia on a road trip up to SanFran before she starts college at SDState. How cute, huh. Anytime Wade is in town I make an effort to hang out with him, no matter what he is doing, no matter which friends he is with, because he is a Fun Guy and I love him.

So we ate again at fave restaurant Tuk Tuk, where the food is awesome but the lighting so minimal it is hard to read the menu. (And I'm not even exaggerating here, you really have to squint.) This dinner was way more relaxed than the last time probably because Gia was there and she was more out of place than I, or because I knew everyone around the table. This dinner was also where Wade and I decided that we were going to go to Peru, especially since Beliak piped up to say he traveled there last year and loved it and it is cheap. (Cheap is one of the three criteria in picking a travel country for me. The other two are Has Ruins and Has Beaches.)

Here I guess I must explain how I know Beliak. His fam went to Beth Am, so our parents are friends. He went to Shalhevet, so I know all his friends. He is biffers with Evan, and the three of us had hung out at Tova's party a few weeks before. He currently works at McMaster Carr with Margie. I've always known he existed, but for some reason we never crossed paths before.

After dinner I went to the Pajama party at hot friends Matt and Chris' house with Alyssa. It was meh. So I left early and returned to Wade. The crew was hanging out at Scott and Beliak's place, planning to visit their hot tub. Yummm, hot tub. Younger Beliak wasn't there but Older Beliak, who I'll refer to as Ari, was there. CLEARING UP CONFUSION HERE: Beliak is a last name. The guy at Tuk Tuk is the Younger, and his real name is Hanan. But everyone just calls him Beliak. Actually, everyone calls both of them Beliak. And they live together, which must be utterly distracting. Although I guess with each other they probably use first names. (I remember calling up Grifka in high school, and her mother answered, and I asked for Grifka, and she replied, "Which one?" and it was the first time I realized her family called by her first name and not the last name which they all share.)

A few days later, while finalizing plane tickets on the phone, Wade asks me what he should do if someone asks for my number. Like if he is allowed to give it out. I was like, who wants it? But he didn't want to tell me. So I said, sure, give it out, I can always ignore them on my phone. Then I made him tell me that it was Beliak. I was like, oh, whatever, that's fine. But also half of my brain was saying shit shit shit shit shit. This was not Beliak getting my phone number so we could Hang Out, this was getting my phone number so we could GO Out, because why else would Wade be all weird about it? There must have been some sort of conversation. Here is where I got a bit nervous, because I really wanted Beliak to be a New Friend but I REALLY didn't want him to be interested in me.

A few days ago he called and I invited him to Nicole and Matt's party because it seemed like a casual thing and I knew he would know people there. We hung out a little, but then I ditched him, was was totally OK because he did, in fact, know other people. When I left I told him we should hang out next week so that he could tell me about Peru. I on purpose used the phrase "hang out" and "tell me about Peru" so that he WOULDN'T think I wanted a date, although looking back through his eyes I could have been using that as an excuse. And then what popped out of my mouth next Shit shit shit shit shit. I actually said, "And then we can hang in your jacuzzi." In my defense, I really did want to hang out in his jacuzzi, but only for the restorative properties of really hot water, not at all for the romantic atmosphere. Shit shit shit. Way to go, Deens.

Tonight he called up and this is how the conversation went:
Him (B): Hey. How are you? or something
Me (A): Fine, and you? or something
B: What's up? or something
A: blathering about what I did this weekend. I am so good at talking about myself.

blah blah blah. On to the crucial part:
B: So, you want to do something this week?
A: Umm, Sure. I am still thinking about him telling me about Peru. Maybe I'll come over and we'll eat cookies and he'll show me his picture album and I'll take notes.
B: How's Tuesday night? We could go out to eat or maybe something later.
A: OK. What time? Well maybe he'll just tell me about the trip and afterwards we can go through his pictures.
B: I'm working 'till 7:30
A: That's fine, what do you want to do?
B: Well, I was thinking we could go to the Pier, or something.
A: I am suddenly realizing that he is meaning for this to be a date. Shit. Um, how about we eat something instead? Shit shit shit shit shit
B: OK.... there's umm, do you like Italian? There's this Italian place near my house.
A: Brain is going crazy trying figure out how to make this maybe date less of a date. How about...I'll just come over to your house. Then maybe....maybe what? I'll refuse to leave unless it's to In 'n' Out?
B: OK, that's fine.
A: At like 7:30. Shit.
B: OK.
A: See you then.
B: Bye.


CRAP.