And there was an incredibly attractive, half-naked man in my bed. And so despite his protests of how he didn't want to take advantage of me, how he cared about me, and how he wasn't sure if it was a good idea, I set about seducing him. It was so funny really, as the poor boy was trying so hard to be good, and I wasn't making it easy for him!
Still, despite my best efforts, after 3 hours of playtime there was one line he refused to cross. Which, I guess on the whole I'm glad that at least one of us was thinking sensibly. (Seriously, with the other things he did to me, I would happily have jumped off that cliff, damn the consequences. There was a reason I wanted to act on this chemistry, because well...the chemistry was so darn good!)
At one point we paused while I made us breakfast, and then went back to bed, played for a while, and then slept a bit...before finally he suggested that we actually try to DO something with our day, rather than spend it all in bed. Although to be perfectly frank, I was enjoying the day in bed. Yet when I made a move to play more, he gently rebuked me, "No more playtime", as I guess he'd already been pushed to the limits of good behaviour. So I made it through the shower, as did he, and we decided to go up to the Westfield shopping mall, since he'd never been.
We walked up to Westfield, and then decided to go for lunch at Cafe Concerto. It was actually really randomly nice, sitting in the big, airy atrium of Westfield, eating sandwiches (surprisingly good!) and chatting. Lotte texted him to find out where he'd ended up the night before, and he tried to dodge the question for a bit, before finally admitting he'd stayed at my place. To which Lotte replied, "Thought you might."
He told me that Lotte didn't know everything about us, but that she knew some of what was going on. She is one of his absolute best friends, so this does make sense. I told him that I was going to try to tell the Young Dutchman as little as possible, but if Lotte knows about us, my ability to get away with not saying anything is rapidly coming to an end. I'm going to have to tell the Young Dutchman the truth.
I checked my phone and saw that I'd missed a few calls from the Young Dutchman, and the Tall South African teased me, "Somebody's getting in trouble..." {Sigh!} He's right though, I am definitely going to be in trouble with the Young Dutchman for this one. Feels so much like my big brother checking up on me (and I already have one of those!)
It was funny, as we chatted throughout lunch and told stories of our friends, he absolutely did not believe me that I'd never slept with the Young Dutchman (or even kissed him). I actually imagine that most people, seeing the closeness I have with the Young Dutchman, assume that we've slept together, but the truth is that we've never crossed that line. After a while of pressing me, I told him, "Look, you can either believe me or not. But I can't change the truth."
Which led to an interesting discussion about why he'd refused to go all of the way with me, and where our relationship is going in the future. As he said to me, "With any other girl, I just sleep with her and never worry about whether she will be in my life in the future or not. But with you, it's different. We've only really just gotten to know each other, but I'm really hoping you're in my life for a long time yet. And I don't want to screw this up." So not sleeping together is his answer? I can see where he's coming from, but you might imagine why this is a tad bit frustrating for me.
His stories of his sexual exploits definitely made me laugh however, even as they made me realise his reputation is even worse than I'd thought. It's almost as though as soon as a girl claims she won't sleep with him, he simply sets about making her realise the fallacy of even trying to resist him. And damn him, he's so good-looking and charming, I don't doubt that he's quite successful in that regard. He makes no excuses for his reputation, as if even half the stories he tells are true, he's slept with more people than the Young Dutchman (and the Young Dutchman is quite the libertine!) Although I had to laugh, as the more he talked, the more I realised how much he is like the Young Dutchman. Incredibly arrogant and egotistical, and yet weirdly fascinated by me. Who knew I was the "type" of a certain type of boy?
After our lovely leisurely lunch, the Tall South African suddenly exclaimed that he wanted to take me for milkshakes at Harrod's. No really. I thought this was a rather funny request, but he was so excited, that even though I was running out of time before I had to be at dinner this evening, I said yes. So we made our way out to Harrod's (a bit of a trek), and then had quite the time wandering around the store looking for the ice cream parlour. Finally, when he gave up, I asked a security guard, who very graciously took us right to the correct spot. (What service you get at Harrod's!) I'd been suspicious of this idea, but when we got there, it was this really charming, retro ice-cream parlour, where we sat on old-fashioned stools at the counter, and he grandly said, "Anything you want, it's on me!"
It was so sweet, and rather innocent, it reminded me of that classic Norman Rockwell print of two kids on their first date at an ice cream parlour. I mean seriously, what a date! We went for milkshakes! Still, I had so much fun sitting and chatting with him, that I would have to say it was my favourite date I've ever been on. Who knew I could be so thoroughly seduced by £7 milkshakes?
Although I would have stayed and lingered with him over milkshakes forever, unfortunately I'd promised my friend that I would attend his 30th birthday dinner, and I was already late (as dinner had already started and I was still in the company of the Tall South African). So we got on the train, talked about whether he would head home or possibly stop in Covent Garden (he decided to go home), and I gave him a quick kiss on the lips and headed off to my next stop for the evening.
I was already 45 minutes late for dinner by the time I hopped out at Liverpool Street station, so I hopped in a cab to make the short journey to the restaurant. They were just finishing starters by the time I arrived and had forgotten to order any dinner for me, so I bravely told the waiter to just bring out "Whatever you can bring the fastest." Turned out to be a green Thai tofu curry, which probably wouldn't have been my first choice, but it still did the trick. Turns out you can't just have a chocolate milkshake for dinner and nothing else!
Dinner was good, the crowd was convivial, and it was nice to see a bunch of people I hadn't seen in a while. I stuck to drinking water (after last night, I thought it wise), but decided to join the crowds when we headed over to another bar for drinks.
The place was loud, and weirdly arty (had a slideshow playing on one wall), but interesting in that we couldn't figure out what kind of crowd it was catering too. The birthday boy's girlfriend and I were totally hit on at one point, but I gently brushed them off with the explanation that we were out with our friends...
Finally though, I was getting tired, and so made a move to go home. I found it funny then, when I got my coat, that everybody else made a move to go too...and when I encouraged them to stay, they all cracked up and said that since I was leaving, the party was now obviously over and it was time to go home!
So we all left the pub, and I was amused to see that I had a few texts from the Tall South African...apparently once he'd gotten home he'd been dragged out for drinks with friends. I had to laugh that we'd both ended up with busy days after all.
I rode the train home with a chap I've known from Balliol since forever, the Medical Student. And it was funny, because the Medical Student has been in a relationship for the past two years, but I hadn't heard him mention her once all evening. I wanted to ask what the story was there, but couldn't think of a way to bring that up in conversation. ("Ummm...so hey, have you broken up with your long-term girlfriend?")
Still, when I got home, I was delighted to discover my favourite Australian friend online (who is very good friends with this entire crowd), and so had a Skype chat with him for an hour, where I put out this hypothesis. Didn't finally make it to bed until 1 AM, but after an absolutely wonderful day!
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