"I fell asleep."

Did ever tell you about the time when a guy was 3 HOURS late for a date?

We had met the previous Saturday at a pub in the trendy Yaletown area of Vancouver. The male scene that night was "lacking", but it did not stop me from playing my favorite bar game. The game *usually goes like this, I pick a few guys in the club (2 or 3) and then I make eye contact with them throughout the night. The object of the game is to get them to approach me and either buy me a drink, ask me to dance or ask for my number (or do all three). I don't approach them because most guys like thinking that they're, you know, the one in "control" of the situation. But, wah ha ha ha...little do they know that I am indeed the "puppet master"...I revealed this to a guy once who was actually offended. He he whatever.

So, after a good hour of playing "the game", DD and I had to make a trip to the ladies room (yes, girls must go to the bathroom together). When we returned to our seats, they were occupied by three men. DD and I teased them for taking our seats and they were nice enough to scooch over and let us in. Immediately one of the guys looked at me and asked me if I was married. I did a "huh?" and then he pointed to my "ring" finger. I was wearing a turquoise flower ring on that finger (do I look like a hippy bride?) because it was the only finger it fit on. I told him that I was not married and then he asked if I had a boyfriend, which I replied no to as well. His demeanor completely changed and he told me that he had noticed me looking at him before. For some reason I had been playing the game a little too vigorously that night and had not remembered him, but pretended that I did anyway. We hit it off immediately. Then I found out that he was a fire fighter (he flashed me his badge) and was considerably older than me. I had dated men who were a couple years older than me before, but never someone 12 years my senior. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to pursue this any further, but he had already swept me off my feet. He was saying all the right things, telling me I was beautiful and perfect...blah blah blah. At the end of the night he called a cab for me and we said our good-byes.

I guess he realized that we had not exchanged numbers after the cab drove away because a few minutes later I could hear the dispatcher relaying a message to the driver. My face went completely red when I heard the dispatcher request that the driver relay a message to his passenger from a Mr. Firehall. It was his phone number.

I waited a couple of days to call him...just to keep him on his toes (cruel, no?). We planned to meet later in the week, which we did. The date went well, but it became apparent that the age difference was an issue in terms of life plans and time lines. We decided to give it a try anyways, that is, until our next date.

He was supposed to take me out for a nice dinner and was scheduled to pick me up at 6:30. By 6:30 I was waiting for him. By 7:00 I decided to give him a call. I called both his cell # and his land line. Neither were answered. By 8:00 I tried again, still no answer. By 8:30 I put my sweatpants on and pulled my hair back. By 9:00 the phone rang. He had "fallen asleep" and he was "sorry". He arrived at my house at 9:30....with....NO FLOWERS!! Our 1-week romance ended that night. Not just because he was late, but because he had "marriage" ACK! and "babies" DOUBLE ACK!! on his mind, while I had school and traveling on mine. But, for reasons I will never know he called me almost three months later...



*usually - meaning on a couple occasions a different random guy has intercepted these stares creating a very awkward situation when he decides to approach me later...