Once Upon a Budding Romance

It’s been a year since we started dating. What was that first date like?

• He accidentally gave me the address to an abandoned warehouse for us to meet.
• We figured out ahead of time and then joked that he was a serial killer.
  • I really hoped he wasn’t a serial killer.
• We got coffee and played Speed Scrabble. He won at Speed Scrabble and I tried not to mind even though he’s Biology guy and I’m the Literature gal.
• He had a surprise to take me to. I hopped in his car, telling him I’d call 911 if he turned out to be a serial killer.
  • I really really hoped he wasn’t a serial killer.
  • He did NOT pull a gun on me.
  • Am I an idiot?
• He took me to the Japanese Gardens. I was impressed, that a guy could surprise a girl with an actually good surprise on their first time meeting.
• We took a walk in the park and talked about my like and his dislike of abstract art.
  • When we walked through an abandoned tunnel in the park, we joked that this is where the murder happens.
  • I really hoped he wasn’t a serial killer.
• I slipped in the mud and fell about an inch into the river.
  • I apologized for my shoes if they accidentally got mud in his car. He said he didn’t care.
  • I don’t know if I believe him.
• We ended the night at a Japanese restaurant.
• It was also prom night, so we were surrounded by fancy-dressed high schoolers.
• We returned to my car in the empty coffee-shop parking lot. We parted ways.
  • I lived to see another day.

And on this one year anniversary, my writerly/readerly self knows all so well that you can know someone for years and years and never find out they’re a serial killer….until it’s too late 😉