...And Now For The Details...

Um, okay, so I'm a really cheap (and fairly easy) first date. Mags showed up here around six and we sat in my living room and chatted for a while a little awkwardly. I blame it on my nerves, I've never asked out an old friend before. All in all though I wasn't too nervous since I've known him for 8 freakin years and we've already slept together before and he's basically slept with all but two of my friends. My damned nosy neighbors were all out on the porch when he showed up, and I know they were sizing him up, especially Kalan who thinks it's totally okay for him to harass and take advantage of me but no one else is allowed to mess with me. In fact, he very calmly mentioned that he had a shotgun upstairs... a complete lie, but kinda cute from my little 17 year old boy.
Then we decided to go out and socialize, since we had been invited to stop in and visit with Tammi, and Jen was having a "barbecue" (there was no barbecueing happening, just a whole lot of drinking... that right there is false advertising) that she had invited us to as well.
We made the trip to Tammi's and when we arrived Mags was almost immediately set upon by Cruz to tinker with the computer. So much for romance ;). Tammi and I sat around and listened to them discussing the benefits of different porn sites and spyware programs for a while and then we all finally headed to Jen's. By the time we got there Jen, Chris, Des, and Ben were all literally head over heels in their cups. They were plastered! Mags was amused by them, I think, at least he said they were okay later.
However I had been receiving harassing phone calls from them throughout the night, calls that made me blush every five seconds.... I will get even with you guys for that!
And for making me explain the "hoooooo" noises you all kept making.

Anyway, so there I was being completely embarassed by my darling friends (just you wait...) and Mags was laughing it up with them and attempting to figure out the loopholes in my resolution. This was the point at which Jen determined that I was definitely going to see some kind of action out of the night. Boy, was she wrong.

Around midnight Tammi reminded us that she did need to get home and we should get on with our date. So we headed back to her place where we dropped her off and then went out for coffee and cheese fries. I've never gone out with someone who I already knew so well, and it was fun to discover that we had way more in common than I think either of us had realized, including crappy exes, computer knowledge, books, movies, opinions on children, and many other things. Around 2 we decided to head home, and I made sure to let him know he was welcome to stay over. I showed him some Ranma, because it is my favorite addiction and I have to share it with everyone and then we settled in to watch Assault on Precinct 13.

Here I have to interject: if you knew Nic, you would understand how much I appreciated watching a movie with Mags. Nic was anal about movies, I could not speak during a film, even if he had seen it a thousand times. If I got up to use the bathroom or get a snack he would pause the movie, I was not allowed to miss anything, whether I wanted to or not. In fact there were many things that he did like this that I found completely obnoxious but I still tolerated. One of his worst habits, which I discussed with Mags a bit, was his constant need to feed his ego. When he was around I always felt like I had to entertain him, I couldn't do my own thing because then he wasn't getting any attention and he would complain about how he felt like I didn't even care that he was with me because I was doing my homework or some other necessary thing.

We watched the movie, it continued playing when I got up to leave the room for something, we made fun of the characters and guessed at what was going to happen and who was going to die. Wow.
After the movie we decided that since it was really fucking late we should try to get some sleep, so we snuggled up. I was nice enough to wear my jammies, cuz teasing is one thing but cuddling naked with someone after you told them that it wasn't going to happen is just plain mean. Luckily for me he totally took my pledge seriously and didn't try anything, which was just as well since at that point I probably would have jumped him in a second had he so much as breathed on my neck. (Not to give you any ideas though, mags, cuz I know you're reading this). I even worked up the balls to ask if after hanging out all night with me he was seriously interested or if he would prefer to just stay friends. I think I got a pretty definite affirmative to that question, something along the lines of "Hell yeah, I'm interested". Don't quote me on that one though, I was half asleep at the time. So we passed out around 6 a.m.

Oh my goddess! It was so refreshing to wake up after only three and a half hours of sleep to find that Mags was sitting on my couch reading a book. He didn't need to wake me up to amuse him, my desire for sleep did not in any way detract from my enjoyment of his presence, in other words he was so NOT Nic that I was speechless.
( Mags, I'm sure you probably had a few moments of "wow, she is so NOT Athena" as well. Am I right?)

I asked if he'd be interested in giving me a ride out to my dad's to pick up Mina since my car is still in the shop, and after much deliberation he agreed. What I forgot to do was warn him about my dad adequately. Here are some survival tips for dealing with my dad :

1. Never admit that you know about computers-- he will make you fix his piece of crap.
2. If he finds out that you play chess you will be challenged to a game-- this is a test. If you win he thinks you are intelligent, but if you are a bad winner, he thinks you are an intelligent asshole. If you lose he will think that he is smarter and will decide to become your mentor, teaching you the ways of the Jim, if you are a bad loser he will think you are a whiney bitch. This is a lose/lose situation. (Poor Mags)
3. Do not under any circumstances allow him to show you his website-- you will be sucked into his web of doom and be preached to about the ways of the universe and the evil Darth Bush.
4. He is very cunning for a gnome, beware the evil little David the Gnome look-alike, every word out of his mouth is intended to either confuse and destroy you or indoctrinate you into his teachings.

Other than that he's mostly harmless.
So, when we arrived out at my dad's Mina was very happy to see both of us, Jackie played at being the sweet charming little hostess, and Dad started things off in the usual fashion.
Dad: So Mags, what do you do?
Mags: I work in the computer industry...
Me: SSsshhhh, nonono!
Mags: Huh?
Me: Dad don't you dare...
Dad (backtracking quickly): I wasn't gonna ask him to look at my computer.

Then later...

Dad: So, do you play chess Mags?
Mags: Yeah, a little...
Dad (already setting up the board): Good, good. Have a seat then.

I gotta hand it to Mags, he didn't do too bad. He lost, then listened to dad mentor him in the Way of the Jim, but at least he lost well. At least Dad was nice enough not to mess with him and do the "So what are your intentions with my daughter...?" speech. Thank god for small favors.
Mags did good, and he seems to think that Dad likes him, he very well might, but generally he keeps his opinions of my male friends to himself because he knows it is pointless for him to tell me he doesn't like one of them. I'm too damned stubborn to listen. Besides, I figured out long ago that he has terrible taste in people.

We headed home after that and were still managing to come up with things to talk about all the way there. We agree on a lot of things, we are both wiccan, and... you know I never really brought up the subject, but I think we have similar political leanings as well. If nothing else I'm pretty sure he's not a hard-core Republican, I'm very much a Democrat... maybe with a splash of Libertarian. Seeing as how politics and religion are the two subjects most people avoid at all costs, its good that we see eye to eye on at least one of them. Nic thought that Wicca was some kind of weird hippie cult, and bitched about having to pay taxes to support all those lazy bastards who wouldn't get off their asses and get a job. At this point I woldn't be surprised to find out he joined some ultra-right wing christian group bent on the purification of the United States. I keep wondering what the hell drove me to waste seven years of my life with that man, and the only thing I can say is that it taught me what to avoid.

After we got back to my house Mags had to head home before he passed out from exhaustion, so we said goodbye and I immediately went to take a nap. I woke up a few hours later to a call from him... to let me know he got home safe. Holy crap. I don't even call my parents to let them know I got home safe most of the time, and they are total worry-warts. I was at a loss for words, it was just so cute.

So that about sums it up, that was the date, 20 hours of exposure to me and he didn't run for the hills... honestly, I'm kind of impressed. I'm not the easiest person to get along with at times, I tend to be too honest and straightforward about things, in some ways I can be very veryvery shy and reserved, I'm not exactly a high-class kind of gal, I can be obnoxious and childish, but I make a mean loaf of fresh bread. Maybe that'll be enough to keep him coming back?