I saw a link on FB today that reminded me of my early dating days... Something about how 4 of the Zodiac signs (of course, including Aries) were not hint-takers, and that you have to be direct with them. Oh, boy is that true...
So, this was back in the early '90s - Mom had moved out of the house (ok, ok, she took a job in Denver, but I decided to stay here in Portland. Even then, I knew that Portland was going to be my long-term home.) I had mostly been taking a break from dating, but I had a crowd I hung out with (the Rocky Horror crowd - love you guys!) and that was filling most of my social needs (and keeping me out of my studio - it's amazing how lonely a studio apartment can feel, sometimes.) I'd like to think that I was welcome in the crowd because of my wit, attitude, charm... but it was probably helped by the fact that I had a job and car as well. (Amazing how much social cache' a car and gas money can give you.)
Anyway... I was still thinking of myself as basically sexless, until one day I ended up bumping into a friend at a coffee shop downtown (I think it was the Blah Blah, but that's beside the point.) He was a nice, cute guy that I'd spent time with before as part of the group, and I offered him a ride home after we sat and talked for a while - he had coffee, I had a diet coke, we argued over songs on the juke box.
Once we got to his place, I was getting ready for him to say goodbye and jump out, when he asked me if I'd like to come up for a cup of coffee. Now, I don't drink coffee - it's one of the few vestigial Mormon traits I have, plus the stuff tastes like dirt, and he had just downed several cups of the stuff, so I said "I don't drink coffee." At which point he grabbed my leg and said "No, do you want to come up for a cup of COFFEE???"
Lightbulb finally exploded in my head - What can I say? I didn't know that coffee was early 90s for Netflix and Chill. It was kind of a mental whiplash, suddenly realizing that oh - I'm not sexless after all. Someone actually did think of me as a sexy lady. (Well, as it turned out, several someones - but this was the burst of confidence I needed to get back in the game.) And as it turns out, he made a pretty good cup of hot chocolate...
