The Single Guy Bites a Bullet

The Single Guy has read a lot of things written by women in which they complain about how confusing men can be. To be fair, women can be equally confusing. Case in point...

He was having a pretty good weekend. The Single Guy had a lot of changes coming up and he had gotten a lot of work done in preparing for those changes. His apartment was mostly packed for his upcoming move back to Virginia. So he decided to treat himself to an evening out. Nothing crazy, just a trip to downtown Raleigh to have some dinner.

Yes, he was alone, but he was okay with that. He decided to go to the restaurant that Spider-Girl had mentioned in one of their conversations at the bank. This is something the Single Guy wouldn't normally do. He wouldn't typically work up the nerve to show up at a place where he knows a girl he likes will be. But at this point, he figured, what did he have to lose?

He arrived at the pizza place and was seated outside. The hostess said that Spider-Girl would be with him in just a minute. That's right, the Single Guy had been seated in Spider-Girl's section, and he hadn't even asked for it. He decided to embrace the opportunity. Why question fate?

He began perusing the menu, trying to decide if he was really hungry enough to eat a pizza by himself. And then she walked up. The Single Guy couldn't help but smile when he saw her. Spider-Girl's long hair was pulled back and her eyes sparkled behind those glasses that she just seems to wear so well. She returned the smile and his heart might have skipped a beat.

"What are you doing?" she asked lightly as she set down the complimentary glass of ice water.

"I'm getting some water," said the Single Guy, being as literal as possible. "What about you?"

"Working..." she said, "like always." She went into the waitress routine, asking if he was ready to order, but he still needed some time to look over his options. And so she walked away to give him a minute.

In the meantime, the skies turned dark. A wicked storm cloud rolled in quickly, threatening to dump some rain on our hero. Other diners decided to pack up and move inside. When Spider-Girl returned to take the Single Guy's order, he had the outside seating area to himself. "I feel like I should have brought a book," he said to the Spider-Girl, trying to mock his own situation of being alone and now having no one even at the tables around him.

"I think I've got a book in my bag you can borrow," she offered. A moment later she returned with three books and a newspaper. She thought he should have options. Spider-Girl sat down at the table across from the Single Guy while he looked over the books. "So how's your car doing?" she asked, knowing that he had recently gotten a new car. "You got a Preus? No, a Yaris," she said, correcting herself.

"Yeah, a Yaris," he said, "and it's great."

"So what about that second job? Are you gonna replace it?"

"Actually, no," he said, hesitantly. He knew that if he explained his reasoning for not seeking another part-time job, he would have to reveal that he would be moving away soon. While this was information he knew he couldn't hide, he also didn't want to risk closing off the lines of communication with this woman with whom he seemed to be connecting so easily. But he continued, "I got a promotion with the bank. So I won't need the second job anymore."

"Oh, so you won't be at the drive through anymore?" she asked. The Single Guy thought he detected a note of disappointment. "Will you have your own office now?"

"No, I'll be working at one of the in-store branches. But it's in Virginia."

The moments following were a blur for the Single Guy. He seemed to think that by telling Spider-Girl that he was moving to another state, he had shattered any opportunity he would ever have to ask her out. She left to check on his order and he began reading the book that she had brought him.

She returned a few minutes later and the sky was even darker and the wind had really begun to pick up. "I should probably move inside. Even if it doesn't rain, I don't want to be the only reason you have to keep coming out here," he said, genuinely expressing more concern for her than for himself.

So he was moved to a small table inside where he continued reading Spider-Girl's book and began eating the pizza that she had just brought him. She sat down at his table again and they talked for a short while. "When are you moving?" she asked.

"Next Sunday," he said, "So I've got another week."

"What part of Virginia are you going to?"

"Roanoke."

"No way!" she looked at the Single Guy in slight shock. "That's where I was born!"

The Single Guy smiled at the incredible coincidence. "Me too!" They both laughed a little before he continued, "Yeah, I was there pretty much my whole life up until about four years ago."

"I was only there 'til I was two," she said, "But, wow, that's crazy." With that she got a signal from another customer that she was needed. So she left the Single Guy to, once again, eat and read alone.

Soon after, a friend of the Single Guy, a fellow bank survivor who we'll call Alexis, showed up at the restaurant and joined him for dinner. Of course, this meant that he now had someone to talk to and didn't have to sit alone reading and feeling self-conscious.

After a while, Spider-Girl returned and, without so much as a word, she picked up her book and walked off with it, seeing that Single Guy wasn't reading anymore and enjoying conversation with a real person. "I wasn't done with that!" he half shouted as she walked away. She turned back and smiled at him.

Once the Single Guy and Alexis had both had their fill, they asked Spider-Girl for the ticket. The Single Guy emphasized that they needed separate checks, wanting to stress the fact that this was not a date and that he and Alexis were not "together" in a together kind of sense. Not that there's anything wrong with Alexis. It's just that the Single Guy went to that restaurant with the clear intention of somehow putting himself on Spider-Girl's radar.

Alexis conveniently and thoughtfully excused herself for a few minutes, wanting to give the Single Guy a chance to have one last conversation with Spider-Girl before he left. She picked up the cash and said she'd be back with the change. When she returned for the last time, the Single Guy thanked her for everything but caught her as she was walking away.

"Hey," he said, trying to hide his nervousness, "would you like to have coffee with me sometime?"

She looked him in the eyes and replied, "I would love to have coffee with you sometime." Before the Single Guy could open his mouth to ask for her number, she told him to Facebook her. She wrote down her name on a piece of paper and he promised to talk to her soon.

The Single Guy left Spider-Girl's restaurant with a grin that didn't seem to want to go away. He couldn't remember a time in recent memory when he smiled so much. Here was this girl that he happened to think was pretty swell, and he actually had the courage to ask her out. And when she responded, she sounded like that would be a pretty good idea.

And so, the Single Guy returned home and jumped on his computer. He searched for Spider-Girl and found her on Facebook. He sent her a friend request and waited. The next day, he hadn't been accepted, so in the evening he decided just to send her a short message asking her if she was free for dinner after work on Monday. And still he waited. And then he started to get confused.

Spider-Girl seemed to give off the impression that she wanted to join the Single Guy for coffee at some point. But there had been no return in communication from her since that inital positive response. He wasn't sure what to do next. He didn't want to come across as impatient, yet he only had so many days before he left for Roanoke. He had less than a week to sweep this girl off her feet. Had he imagined the whole thing?

No. He had proof that she had written down her full name. He had a witness that saw her writing it. He was missing $20 from his wallet, so he knows he bought that pizza.

Could she be having second thoughts about this whole coffee thing? Sure, it's only coffee, but what if they were to hit it off? Would it hurt her more to have a good time with the Single Guy and then lose him in this move than it would to never share that time with him at all?

Maybe it's presumptuous for the Single Guy to think Spider-Girl was ever really that into him. But he does know that he's into her. And he tends to over think things sometimes. And in doing so, he's allowing his heart to break just a little bit when he hasn't heard from this girl that he seems to like so much.

And so, he waits.