Tea for two

As my date with Mr. Exec approached, I found myself a bit giddy. Mr. Exec was handsome, successful and intriguing, and I was looking forward to spending more time with him. I could tell just how excited I was by the fact that I told my friends about my plans.

JD: Where did you meet him again?

Me: At a charity event last year. He had asked me out back then, but I was still with "Buckeyes" Boy. I'll guess we'll see if our timing is better now.

JD: So, where is he taking you?

Me: Out for tea.

JD: Tea? [Laughing out loud.] He's taking you out for tea? What straight guy invites someone out for tea?

Me: Come on. That's his thing. He mentioned that to me last year. I don't drink coffee anyway so what does it matter?

JD: Is he black?

Me: Yeah. Light-skinned.

JD: British?

Me: No. Enough! It's not a big deal, k?

JD found the whole "tea" meet-up to be suspect, but I chose not to over-analyze our plans for the evening. Mr. Exec and I had also been texting about watching the Georgetown-Marquette game afterward. I liked the idea that the date could be tea and more.

I wanted to look cute without being overdressed. (This was just a casual date, after all.) And, as is often the case in March, it was raining outside. I chose a red sweater, my skinny black Twenty8Twelve jeans and my black Burberry jacket.

When I arrived at Teaism Dupont, Mr. Exec was out front. He gave me a kiss on the cheek to say hello. When we noticed what the other was wearing, we started to laugh out loud. Mr. Exec had a black Burberry jacket and jeans on. We looked like twins!

We went inside, ordered tea and headed upstairs to a table. It didn't take me more than a few seconds to remember what a smart guy he was and how easily our conversation flowed. Mr. Exec and I talked about the usual topics that a couple does on a first date: education; places we've lived; work and family. The more he spoke about how he was raised, the more I smiled. It was clear that Mr. Exec was a total Momma's Boy.

After an hour at Teaism, he said,

Shall we go to a bar to watch the rest of the game?

Me [smiling]: That would be great.

He suggested that we head down to South Dupont and watch the game at a bar with more of a sports vibe. While we were walking, we heard Bell Biv Devoe's "Poison" coming from a bar below Darlington House.

Me: Is it 1990? What's next? Someone will start doing the running man?

Neither of us said anything to each other, but there, in the middle of the sidewalk on Connecticut Avenue, we both broke out into the running man. I switched it up to the slide move that BBD was known for as Mr. Exec worked the Cabbage Patch.

When we finished our dance break, we laughed so hard that I had tears in my eyes. Mr. Exec then commented,

We have to go into that bar now.

We walked inside and realized that was the perfect place to watch the game. We bellied up to the bar to order drinks and some appetizers.

Mr. Exec: So, I have to admit that I haven't looked at your blog.

Me: That's not necessarily a bad thing. (I don't care for a guy to read about the explicit details of my past relationships anymore than I care to read about theirs.)

Mr. Exec: Well, I wanted to go to your Blog Party to show you that I support you, but I didn't fully understand what happened with "Buckeyes" Boy. Are you comfortable talking about it?

Me: Sure. I didn't do anything wrong so I'm fine talking about him.

I condensed my relationship and the aftermath into a seven-minute conversation. I didn't want to belabor the situation or raise concern that I might not be over "Buckeyes" Boy. But, Mr. Exec had several questions about my relationship, and I wanted to answer them honestly.

Me: This is a small town. "Buckeyes" Boy has lied to numerous people in the Twitter community, a recruiter and people in his workplace. It's only a matter of time before he lies himself right out of this city.

Mr. Exec: Definitely. People don't realize how it all comes out eventually. DC is too small for it not to. For instance, Nikki [a friend of his who I had met] was telling me about this guy who kept asking her out last year. He said how much he liked her and that he wanted to take her to dinner. She considered it, but then she told me his name. I was like, 'There's no way you can go out with The Baron. He's a crook.'

Me: The Baron?

Mr. Exec: Yeah, do you know him?

Me: Umm…yeah…we went to law school together.

I figured that was easier than saying,

Oh, you mean the guy who I spent New Year's with?

Yeah. My world is way too small.

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