In the morning I went over to the Queen's Club to watch some of the tennis tournament early. It had been pouring rain early in the morning, but cleared up nicely, so I'd almost expected that they might be playing outside. Yet I found everyone inside on the indoor courts to play, which I suppose made sense given the undoubtedly wet state of the grounds.
The club itself was surreal, as I'd had no idea that such an incredible complex existed just down the street from where I lived. Although it was funny watching everyone play tennis, as I'd feared how my playing ability would seem against all of these better players....turns out I need not have worried, I actually probably would have been better than many of the folks on the courts! Next year, I'll definitely have to play.
Still, I couldn't stay for long, as I'd agreed to meet the young man (my "potential beau", as Doro calls him) at 12:30. I left at 12:10, thinking that 20 minutes would be plenty of time to get there. Yet bus I was on down Kensington High Street got stuck in traffic, making me incredibly delayed. So I jumped off the bus and ran, making it to the pub where we were meeting at 12:45, texting him the whole way, as he'd actually been there since 12:20. And then because I ran, I arrived totally sweaty, out-of-breath, and flustered. Ugh. Totally not the right way to make a good impression on the first date!
So, we sat in the Churchill Arms for a bit and had lunch (Thai food!), and then after a bit moved on up to the Windsor Castle and sat out in the beer garden there. Talked about this and that for ages, and I was surprised to learn that he'd been in a long-term relationship with a girl practically since high school, and then broke up with her about two years ago after she refused to move to Europe with him. Kind of gave an interesting dimension to my impressions of him. Then, as we'd had quite a bit of Pimms and I'd been talking about how Holland Park was nearby, he suggested we go for a walk. So we went for a walk in Holland Park, where he casually slipped an arm around me. Although, it's actually kind of hard to walk with your arms wrapped around someone, matching pace and walking style... I assume this is the sort of thing you figure out as you get to know somebody, how they walk!
Anyway, so we strolled through Holland Park for a while before he spotted a secluded bench and suggested we sit for a bit, where he then smiled at me and said, "It's been a fantastic day", and then leaned in and kissed me. And so we totally started making out on the park bench right there, before it started to rain a bit again and he pointed out that there were children around, that perhaps this wasn't the best spot for everything to get hot-and-heavy.
So we went back to mine, had some tea, and just fooled around a bit more. My goodness, I found him distressingly sexy, it was hard to behave myself! Some clothes came off, even as I admonished myself this was way too far to go on a first date, yet somehow I couldn't help myself. Seductive doesn't even begin to describe how he was, or how much I felt absolutely drugged around him, unable to think of much beyond how much I desired him. He finally left to go home at around 10:30 PM, some ten hours after our date had originally begun.
I found it to be the funniest thing when as he was kissing me, he pulled back and smiled, saying, "Ah Lizzie. When I saw that you had 'Elizabeth' on your business cards, I just felt like you were a Lizzie." I laughed and pointed out that nobody calls me that. So he asked, "But can I call you Lizzie?" I had to smile that he wanted his own pet name for me, so I told him, "Yes, you can call me Lizzie." It was weirdly sweet, how he wanted to call me by the wrong name...
The unfortunate thing is that we're now a bit short on time, since I leave for the US on Wednesday, and when I get back, he's off for Italy! So it will be about 3-4 weeks apart. Can a new flirtation withstand such a gap right at the start of the whole thing? Before he left he assured me that he'd call me the next day and we could get together Monday night as well in order to take advantage of the limited time we have before I go.
Yet of course I'm sure I've totally screwed the whole thing up, having played my cards too early. He knows now that I like him, so where's the thrill of the chase? So of course I'm being stupid and trying to think of the things I didn't like about him (not much, to be honest, although he uses more profanity than I'd like) to sort of steel myself in case he doesn't call. Ugh. Why is it that boys mess with your head so much? Sometimes it's entirely clear to me why so many men think women are crazy.
Anyway, must do my best not to seem crazy, to try and just remember what a fun Sunday date I had!
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