Surfer Dude
Height: about 5’10
Age: 33
Met: watching a baseball game
Jeremy Piven meets a young David Letterman? This is a good thing?
All dating aside, last Friday was not a red-letter day for me. A frustrating day in my career, I had hoped that one of my dates would make me feel better. Let’s face it; a little positive attention from the opposite sex can go a long way. After being stood up by the Bad Cop I strolled through the East Village where I had late night plans. Unfortunately I crossed paths with someone from my past, a super villain to be exact. I don’t even know if he’d remember me if he saw me, but I quickly turned and headed the other direction. My mind went haywire for a few moments.
Have you ever been smacked in the face with a past event so hard that you miss a couple of minutes? That’s what happened as I headed up 2nd Avenue. Luckily, one of my best girlfriends called to snap me out of it. It’s amazing the effect of a vibrating back pocket. With a few hours until my next plans, I decided to pop into a small pub to catch the end of the Yankees game. We had creamed Boston the night before and I was hoping we’d do the same on Friday. Sadly, I went in and it was a scoreless game in the bottom of the 6th. So I ordered a Guinness (bottles of the 250 anniversary stout on special for $3.50 in Manhattan!) from the supremely cute Irishman behind the bar and got comfortable.
Other than the bartender who had been friendly and an 80 year old man with whom I had shared applause on a base hit, I hadn’t assessed any of the others in the single room pub. It wasn’t until the Red Sox had their first hit of my viewing that I realized I was next to the only Sox fans in the bar. You’ve got to be kidding me! Of all the Yankees fan in this city I sit down next a bunch of Boston fans?!?! Most people would have actually kept those last two sentences in their head. Not me. Out loud and directly to the two guys sitting to my left.
My remark opened up a dialogue. I don’t know why I hadn’t noticed before that they were both admirably good looking, but it was apparent now. And they aren’t even from Boston, but in town from Hawaii. I didn’t know that people actually LIVE in Hawaii, but I suppose it make sense. I decide that it explains their very laid back, almost disheveled style. Next to me was a trim, dark, small framed but muscular man with short dark curls. Next to him his friend had shoulder length, straight blonde hair, blue eyes, a short but full beard, and also small but compact. The friend was definitely the better looking of the two, but I was just happy to have a distraction at the time.
After a while we were joined by a third man, also attractive, more nicely put together than my new friends. With him is an edgy, rocker babe, common of the East Village. Also common of the East Village, she is a stick bug who makes me, at a size 6, feel like I need to do several months of cleansing. They, too, are Sox fans. On my right, we are also joined by another Sox fan. Seriously folks! It is by now also very close to 10:30 and I have somewhere to be. But it is still a scoreless game and going into extra innings! I told you I’m a Yankees fan. I texted my friend to apologize that I was’t going to make it to his show tonight, explaining why, and told him I’ll make it on Saturday.
We are having a good time now. We’ve all been sitting at the bar, watching this incredible pitching duel for hours, enjoying friendly sassing, putting back a few beers. Nothing can bring Yanks and Sox fans together like an amazingly close game and 0-0 is about as close as ya get! 10th inning. No score. 11th inning. No score. 12th inning. STILL no score! On and on into the 15th inning! By this point we were so stunned that we were starting to believe the game was never going to end or the teams would just keep playing through Saturday’s first pitch.
With the captain, Derek Jeter, at first, A-Rod launches a tater to left field to tie him for 9th on the all-time home run list! The bar goes crazy! People charge in from the sidewalk to watch the replay. INCREDIBLE! And being the good sport that I am, I rub it in as hard as I can! Knowing that my curly headed friend has many bones to pick with Alex Rodriquez made the taunting even sweeter!
I had JUST ordered another beer when Jeter took a base. So now I was stuck finishing it and had seriously slowed down. I said good-bye to my new friends who were heading elsewhere and to my surprise my curly headed friend stayed behind saying he’d catch up with them later. We had shared some decent small talk throughout the course of the game so I was happy to have him stick around without the distraction of 6 innings of what an ex used to call “free baseball”.
Turns out, Blondie was a professional surfer. And though this guy surfs for fun, he is actually a shaper, someone who custom makes boards. Don’t worry. I had never heard of a shaper either. I’m from the landlocked Midwest. They were in town for a couple of days while on a promotional tour, heading down to the Jersey Shore on Sunday. Though I have never even set foot into the ocean, we had a lot in common. Though he doesn’t make a ton of money, he is grateful to do something he not only loves, but also takes him all over the world to meet interesting people. I have always felt the same way about my work in the arts. Also a middle child, his older brother lives in Brooklyn, where he’d be staying.
It was now close to 2 and I was exhausted. As much as I was enjoying our conversation it was time for me to leave the Surfer Dude. When I announced I needed to be heading home he asked if he could call me, maybe go out the following night. Without hesitation I wrote my number down on a bev nap (I’m out of business cards right now) and expressed how much I would like that. It looked as though he had started to lean in to kiss me and then thought better of it. Had he I probably would have kissed him back by that point. 6 hours next to each other, the adrenaline of the game, the lubrication of several beers? Hard to say "no". I took this as a sign that I would actually get the chance to see him again the next night.
After sleeping off the exhausting win and emotional roller coaster of the previous day I sat down at my desk to report on Dates #10 and 11. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t check my phone several times to see if I had any missed calls. Come 8 Saturday night I realized that I wasn’t going to hear from Surfer Dude. Though I was disappointed, I suppose it is for the best. The last thing I need is to get attached to some guy on a surfing tour! There’s always the off chance that next time he passes through he will call. I’d happily see him again, if he’s not too late.
Bonus Features:
*strong but not overbearing
*loves his work
*a reader
*lives in a great vacation spot ;)
As-Is Defaults:
*Red Sox fan
*lives half way around the world
2 comments:
I love reading your blogs, and I think what you're doing is a fabulous idea, but how can you call this a date? You didn't set it up to meet this guy, you met him AT the bar, so it was not an official date.
Thank you for your comment and I understand your conflict. I was having the same discussion with myself. I came to this conclusion, had he left when his friends did, it wouldn't count. But after our initial meetings the dynamic changed because his group all left and he chose to stay behind with me. In that sense it is no different than say, he left with his group and we met up for a drink the next day. Because it felt like a date, the setting, the conversation, the attraction, I would be neglecting a major factor in my quest. I spend a lot of time going out by myself and if I counted every instance when a guy sat next to meet and we watched sports for several hours I'd already be at #50! But the change in dynamic leads me to believe that it would be dishonest to include our time together.
Thanks for the comment! I hope you will continue reading and leaving your opinions! It is much appreciated!
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