"Our Stories" A week went by and I decided to give Kevin a call. The phone conversation went well and from there, more phone conversations ensued (even though they were mostly initiated by me since he never picked up a phone to call me in those days). During one of these Kristel initiated phone conversations, Kevin offered to cook dinner for me. So on October 17, 1997, I was treated to a tasty lasagna meal which was rounded out with a bottle of white zinfandel that I brought. Unfortunately, the wine ended up full of cork pieces because Kevin couldn't find the corkscrew so he used a knife instead. But it was okay once we used a strainer to filter the wine into our glasses :-)
Overall though, the evening was a success, we felt very comfortable in each other's company and from there we began corresponding by telephone and e-mail with greater frequency (one night we spent four continuous hours sending AOL Instant Messages to each other).
As the months went by, Kevin and I also began spending more time together doing such things as attending a tennis match, going to movies and restaurants, a helicopter ride, museums, the theater and even sightseeing in Manhattan in a double decker bus like tourists. After a while though, it became clear that we were more than friends, but not quite ready to make the transition to boyfriend/girlfriend status. In the meantime however, Kevin coined the phrase 'Friends Plus' to describe this phase of our relationship. After several months of being in 'Friends Plus' purgatory, we decided to take our relationship to the next level and date each other exclusively. This happened on July 20, 1998 and we've been 'babe' to each other ever since!
As Kris said, we hadn't seen each other in several years. But we had seen each other from time to time during the 10 year interim between our days at Sheepshead Bay High School and that day in September. We'd wave in the street, I'd write, she wouldn't answer. She'd call, I didn't answer. No real reason for it. It's just people getting caught up with life y' know? All that said, you wouldn't think we'd have a whole lot to say to each over on the way into the city but as it happens we did.
So just before she gets off, we exchange numbers and e-mail addresses and off we go with our days. Kris is right. She did call first. I suppose that makes me the baddie. She doesn't mention though that I did send her a lot of e-mail as we are both on AOL and did talk a lot online.
Time goes by, our phone bills go up, our fingers grow stiff with all the typing so I decided that we should get together for a more typical night. So I asked her if she'd like to come over to my house for dinner. She agrees, and we're set.
Kristel recently asked me, what was in my head during that evening. Well, I thought we'd have a nice dinner, talk and hang out. The usual. She brought a nice bottle of wine which I appreciated. I didn't appreciate the fact that I didn't have a corkscrew (Most of my fine wines require a twist off cap). I had to do something right? I mean, I'm the man. So I take a knife to try and get the cork out.
Want a suggestion? Don't do that. Unless you like your wine a liiiittle on the grainy side. You can do only so much with a strainer. :-)
To be honest, and don't tell her, it wasn't a completely platonic invitation. But she doesn't need to know that the seeds were sprouting fairly early on. Dinner went very nicely and was followed by movies, and tennis matches and phone calls and plans until I finally asked her to be my one and only.
She said no.
For 15 days, 5 hours and 3 minutes...give or take.
On July 20, 1998, she finally said yes and the rest has been happily ever after.