Adventures in Dating - Part 2

As I mentioned before - was tired of the lack of personal life - so joining the free dating site seemed like the best way to get what I wanted without the expense of other sites. I've tried both Eharmony and Match.com before....went on a few dates in both cases but nothing really worked out. It always ended up that I met someone outside of the site and started dating them. With Match it was Simon and with Eharmony it was Ben. Turns out when it rains it pours - so to speak. Of course, the rain isn't always good rain - sometimes it's pretty acidic.

Adventures in Dating - Part 2
The second guy I decided to go out with was actually the one I hadn't met on the site. Ryan.

I work at my grad school in the graduate office, so I come in contact with a lot of different people who visit for advising appointments. Some people I don't pay any mind too but as soon as Ryan came in - I started talking to him and well, flirting with him. He was/is SO cute - HOT to say the least. He was in to see an advisor for his M.Ed. in Elementary and Special Education. Swoon! Nothing cuter than a man that wants to be an elementary teacher (at least, I think so). So we chatted and he went in for his meeting and he left and I never thought I'd see him again. That's what it's usually like. I see these people once so I figure there's no harm in flirting and whatnot. So I found out from his advisor that he actually had Ryan in his class on Monday nights - so I said "hey put in a good word for me!" And left it at that.

Two weeks go by and I just figure that the advisor didn't say anything to Ryan. Sure enough, on a Wednesday evening, Ryan walks into the office. It's about a half hour before we close so I figure he's in for a question or to see his advisor. Of course, when he started asking me a ton of questions of school and my personal life, I started to think ....hrm...maybe he's gonna ask me for my number? So about 15 minutes go by and he leaves. Doesn't ask me for my number. Nothing. Sure enough about 5 minutes after he leaves he calls the office. He tells me he wasn't sure it was appropriate to ask me out while I was at work but wanted to know if I was interested in getting together for a drink or coffee some time. I WAS SO EXCITED! I never had a guy do that. It was a first for me where a guy asked me - flat out - to go out for drinks or coffee. So I gave him my number and we discussed the fact that we were both pretty busy so we weren't sure how it'd work out but both agreed that we'd figure it out. I was elated!

Date #1
The rest of the week goes by and I don't hear from him. That Saturday he asked me if I wanted to get together for a drink. So we met up at a place near me and talked for nearly 4 hours! It was great. To be honest, I wasn't sure if he was having a good time though. Maybe he was nervous. I don't know. At the end of the night, we walked out of the restaurant and he walked me to my car. Shortly thereafter we proceeded to make out for a good 10 minutes. Holy good kisser! Um yes please! It was perfect and sweet and he was kind and gentle. I haven't had a good kiss like that since...well...it's been awhile. I told him I had a good time - as did he - and told him to call me, that we should do it again. He agreed.

So lets see where we're at:
He asked me for my number (in such a cute way)
He agreed to come to me.
He walked me to my car.
He's a great kisser!

Ok ok...back to the rest...

So the next day - he tells me how great of a time he had and can't wait to do something with me again. We make plans for that coming Saturday night. Of course, I am leaving out a bunch of the other details like the excitement and concern as to whether or not I should call/text whathaveyou. Thanks to my friend Parker, I was guided in the right direction! Nonetheless....the weekend approached and as it was the second weekend of March Madness.....

Date #2
Ryan asked if I would like to come to his place and he'd make dinner and we could go from there. I thought it was really sweet and agreed that'd be nice. So I made my way over - he grilled and dinner was great. It was so cute watching cook. I asked several times if he wanted help but insisted that I was to watch basketball while he worked away:-) Dinner was yummy. He did a really good job. We talked for a bit and he asked me if I wanted to go out? I said I was perfectly comfortable staying in - it had been a long week for me and for him as well so I was totally cool with staying in. He was really surprised at that but I think he kind of felt relieved. So we watched some basketball and shortly thereafter we put on some music. We played cards for the rest of the night and talked. I had a really good time. I got to know him a lot better and it turned out we had a lot in common - from the way we were raised to our relationships with family to the way we approached school. It was just really nice. [[sidenote: When I started my dating adventures, I originally told myself that I wasn't going to "give it up" too soon. I had done this in the past and learned it's probably not the best way to start a relationship. That being said...sometimes a girl just can't help herself]]

It started to get late and Ryan asked if I wanted to spend the night. I can't lie. I didn't even hesitate. The moment I walked through the door that night all I could think about was wanting to kiss him - over and over again. What can I say, he was/is a GREAT kisser. Without going into too much detail, I spent the night and in the morning when we woke up - I was getting ready to go when he stopped me and said, "wait, do you want breakfast?" I was really caught off guard. He genuinely didn't want me to leave. So I stayed and we had breakfast and talked for another three hours.

I did have to leave eventually though because I had homework to do that day. As much as I didn't want to leave and I think he didn't want me to either (he asked what I was doing the rest of the day in a way that was like...maybe she can come back)....I had to go. He walked me to my car again and kissed me goodbye. I told him we should definitely do that again - he agreed - and that was that.

After that...we kept in contact but we both went away on vacation and although we contacted each other after they were over - things just kind of fell apart. There were apologies for being busy and all that jazz but eventually I kind of said to him - I know you're busy but let me know if you're still interested in hanging out - to which he replied with an apology for seeming like he was disinterested. He was definitely interested - just busy. After that series of communication - we haven't talked. I can't blame him for being too busy. I just know how much I LIKED him. I don't feel rejected in any way. I think he truly liked me too - I think the pressure of everything else just got to him. Who knows - maybe we'll reconnect sometime - but I'm not going to hold my breadth. All I can hope for is that I find someone else that made me feel the way Ryan did/does.

::sigh:: I really liked him.

And so it goes with adventure number 2....