Our young heroine set off for her fourth date with the British Scientist since they began seeing each other again (total dates: 7). They exchanged text messages all day and decided to meet at PJ Clarke's at 7:15. At 7pm, she's getting ready to leave her office, when her phone rings. It's the British Scientist. Huh? "He never calls," she thought. "I don't think he's called me once since I've met him. Huh?" When she picked up, the Brit said he was early and PJ Clarke's was too crowded--could they meet across the street? She said sure. Of course, now she's running late, she still had to fix her makeup, get money--how stressful.
She arrived, breathlessly, at 7:25. "Sorry I'm late," she cooed. "It's been a tough day." They decided to walk around to try to find a place to eat. She suggested a tapas place, but the Brit didn't seem that interested. But when they walked by an Indian place, his eyes lit up. "Would you fancy a curry?" he said. "Sure," she replied, and in they went.
They shared a lovely dinner, with Naan and Saag Panir (Kristin's favorite!). No awkward pauses this time--she talked about her acting program, he of his work, the conversation flowed effortlessly, for the first time since they started seeing each other again. When dinner ended, it was too soon to go home, so she thought it would be a good idea to head to Serendipity. It was just around the corner after all. "It won't be so full of tourists at 10 on a Thursday, will it?" she said. And indeed, it wasn't. They had only a 45 minute wait (anyone who knows Serendipity knows that 45 minutes is nothing), which they killed by wandering around the neighborhood, window shopping, arms linked. Thankfully it was a warm winter night. The Brit began to ask about her hard day, and got her to reluctantly confess some personal issues she's been having as late--and then, after sympathizing appropriately, he offered some truly amazing, and simple advice. Very nice.
At Serendipity, the frozen hot chocolates were amazing. At this point the Brit began to make boyfriend noises.
"How does your weekend look? Can I see you Sunday?" (making plans while on a date? Always a good sign).
Later:
"I don't think we see each other that often."
"Well, we see each other practically every Sunday," Kris replied.
"But I miss you during the week," he said. "Don't you miss me?"
"Uh... yeah!" she replied.
And again:
"I've always wanted to eat at <>."
"We'll go!"
And again:
"I wish our country had free health insurance."
"Well, we could always go back to the UK." (semi-joking)
And again:
"We're still going away to Boston for the weekend, right?"
Though Kristin is very familiar with boyfriend noises (Clark Kent was making some, as did Karaoke Boy--both, clearly, unfulfilled) somehow these seemed more genuine.
They finished their dessert and prepared to part. The Brit, very gentlemanly, insisted on accompanying Kristin the 6 long blocks to her subway station crosstown. They shared some lovely kisses, and he made the suggestion that they could, on Sunday, go to his place and "fool around." (This is the first mention or pressure for sexual anything EVER with him. After 4 dates? That's totally unheard of.) Kristin giggled. Well, the fellow certainly had been more than patient with her--perhaps she would see, depending on how their date Sunday went.
What a surprising evening!
