I met DC my first night at Town over Thanksgiving weekend. I’m not the type of person to go out with the intention of hooking-up, but it had been over two months since NK and I was in need. So, if something happened, I wasn’t going to complain. It was late – well past the point where one should be interested in any of the leftovers remaining ,when a guy, AM, comes up to my friend WM, who I was with, to say hi. Turns out they know each other through MySpace (there MUST be an interesting story there). AM was there with DC, who promptly starts dancing with me and tells me that he saw me when he came in and immediately wanted to talk to me. A charming compliment, but at this point in the evening, one that probably prompted eye-rolling on my part. Nonetheless, we continue dancing, DC and I talk more and I decide he seems genuine (not to mention cute) and the four of us end up going back to AM’s apartment in Chinatown and yada, yada, yada, I wake up next to DC Sunday morning.
This wasn’t a run of the mill hook-up, however. We actually conversed and cuddled. The more we talked, the more I thought this kid has some depth. Plus, the cuddling was great and I’m a sucker for affection. Unfortunately, I keep referring to him as a “kid” for a reason. He’s 22, a recent graduate of one of the local diploma farms. Additionally, he’s a photographer and just moved to the Big Apple to launch his career in fashion photography. Hmmm….not exactly someone on paper I’d see as a compatible match. We agree to meet again when he’s back in town and formalize our new relationship by becoming Facebook friends.
Fast forward a month to last Thursday when I run into him at Cobalt. I thought he was coming to DC, but I hadn’t heard from him. Turns out I mistyped my cell in our e-mail exchange. Ooops. We catch-up, dance and before I know it, it’s bar close. I’d been out and having fun since an after work happy hour, so was feeling good. I presume he and I will re-unite back at my place. But, he pointedly declines and says we’re going on a date Friday. I added some points to his scorecard.
Friday, we ate at Logan Tavern (sidenote: I recognize our waiter from his Manhunt profile and I about leapt out of my chair when he appeared beside me). Our conversation touches on his photography, our thoughts about DC, growing up, the contest at his going-away party to guess how many people he’s “had relations” with out of 40 randomly selected Facebook friends (answer: 9) and ourselves. Conclusion: he’s interesting, honest, smart, ambitious, passionate, authentic and he has feelings…it’s refreshing. It’s rather odd because it made me realize how few guys in DC are like that. Many of those words could be used to describe DC guys, but he isn’t one of the DC suit-and-tie clones that, while nice, I think I’d eventually find boring in a relationship. After dinner, we head back to my place, start a movie, but quickly find ourselves distracted.
Defining this relationship is a challenge. What can I say at this point given the circumstances? Naturally, I rationally assess the situation and the reality is that I don’t expect much. He’s very NYC, I’m DC and our lives are headed in different directions. At the very least, it’s been good to know they’re are people like him out there and to have this mid-winter connection. He’ll be back next month, so we’ll see what happens.
