Brian

after a few weeks of chatting back and forth on POF, i decided to ask Brian out. there was something about his profile - he didn't take himself too seriously and was funny. he was feeling sick at the time, but said he would definitely like to meet once he was feeling better. he gave me his # and we texted back and forth quite a bit this past weekend. on two occasions he invited me out with his friends, but that would be such an awkward first encounter. or would it? sometimes i feel like a good friend screening and stamp of approval would be really nice to have. call me old fashioned, but i like to meet up one-on-one the first time. he may have suggested it because he was fairly new to POF and had never met up with anyone before. the poor guy had had a terrible weekend with a flooded apartment and was practically homeless, just couch surfing with the few friends he's made in ottawa who have stuck around over the past 6 years.

rewind: a bit about brian. he's 4 years younger than me, 6'2", athletic build, lives downtown (on his own) and has a nice smile. it kind of freaks me out how attractive he is. brian works in a management position for a pool service company. he doesn't like it, and his plan would be to go to law school. he's also pretty serious about learning french, something that would be really beneficial to working in the gov't, etc. originally from cambridge, brian moved to ottawa (wait for it...) because he's a Sens fan. he was a bit embarrassed about admitting that, but i think it's great. i asked him if he plans to stick around in the city and he said yes. he has a sister who has two kids, and i'm pretty sure all of his family still lives in southern ontario. he's been in a few long-term relationships, the most recent one being a few months ago. brian explained that his gf (who was quite a bit younger than him) wanted to break up because she wasn't ready for marriage, kids, etc.

we met up at the james street pub and it was such a nice spring day, that i enjoyed my first beer on a patio in the sunshine! how can you beat that (even if the date goes horribly wrong)? brian is super chatty (even though he claims to be shy) and we spent a good amount of time discussing travel, namely Barcelona - somewhere we've both visited. after a few beers, the waitress brought us our bill. oh no, i'm not ready to leave yet, i thought! both brian and i didn't have any cash on us, so i offered to pay for the bill. he did make a comment that it should be him paying, but i told him he could get it next time. he offered to treat me to dinner at the clocktower - i said yes! but first, i had to go to the washroom. when i came back upstairs, i couldn't find brian on the patio. OH MY GOD ARE YOU *#$(%*#$%& KIDDING ME, HE DITCHED ME?! i was in shock. and then i saw him coming up the stairs (he had also gone to the washroom). pfew!

the time just kept slipping by... all of a sudden it was 5 hours later and we were eating burgers and still chatting away. again, didn't want the date to end. i suggested we go to the LCBO and buy a bottle of wine and continue the conversation at my place (i.e., way cheaper than buying expensive drinks at the pub). brian liked the idea, but we were so full from dinner, he only had one request. could he swing by his place first and change into his sweatpants to be more comfy. ok, now i seriously love this guy! and i'm totally going to change into my sweatpants too.

in the end, we spent nearly 10 hours together on a first date which is pretty crazy. i had a really good time with brian and will no doubt be seeing him again soon!