I think it was a date

There was flirting. He bought the movies tickets and paid for dinner. I offered to pay him for my ticket but he wouldn't take the money. I picked up the check at dinner but he took it from me and asked if I could pay the tip because he didn't have enough ones. I didn't fight with him over money because I think that's tacky and rude. And I liked that he wanted to pay for me. That meant it was more likely to be a date or that he had date-type feelings for me and, as much as my feminist self hates to admit it, it's one of those perks of being a girl. It made me smile, not because I care about the money but because it makes me feel kind of special. It feels like the man is so pleased to have my company that he wants to pay for me as a gesture of thanks. And that feels very nice.

However, I still can't take that as a sure sign of a date because several of my male friends pay for me that same way. It's not unusual for me to go out to eat with a friend, we get the bill, I get out my wallet and ask to see the check, the guy tells me he'll get it this time if I get the tip. My sister thinks those guy friends paid because they want to date me. I don't agree. But, this was not the only evidence of dateness.

During dinner he said something that sounded accidental. I think he said "You are so adorable." He kind of mumbled it and then seemed embarrassed. I smiled and looked down at my plate of food, home fries are ugly. Later, I commented on how I hate sitting next to mirrors. Then he started looking intently into the mirrored wall, I said "I see you don't mind them at all." He said, "I'm looking at you." "Oh." So I turned and looked back at his reflection for a second or two.

We got a little cozy in the theater. They had those make-out seats with the arm that you can raise or lower. We didn't lower the arm between us. Our shoulders touched each other for the duration of the film. I'm a movie talker. So I leaned over to him and whispered in his ear several times. He's a movie talker too but wasn't quite as whispery about it and I think we pissed off the people around us. The movie was silly and we both kept guessing what would happen next and had to tell each other about it so we could show off our smarts. We also made fun of the film a few times, or lots of times.

But, we are both geeky and shy. So nothing major occurred. As proof of our shared geekiness, he about peed his pants when they showed the preview to Hitckhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. It was really cute, he asked me if I'd see it with him. I pretended to be excited too, even though I tried reading that book a few times and could never get through the first chapter. (He doesn't need to know that.) But then I got very excited for the preview of a fantasy film adapted from a book series and he got excited because he knew the author since she also writes sci-fi. Then he told me he doesn't like fantasy but she's a good writer. We got into a discussion of fantasy versus sci-fi. I love the former and like the latter a lot but not as much. We decided that the difference is that fantasy is too fantastic such that there is no possible world where these things could happen but with sci-fi the possibilities are very real. (This is why philosophers should not procreate with each other.)

Despite the ultra nerdiness some things did happen. He touched my arm or leg a few times I think. And one time when I turned to whisper to him he turned towards me and our foreheads touched. Near the end of the film we were fake crying and he put his finger up to my cheek to wipe off a fake tear. It was sweet. I'm actually going to make myself gag in a second. But he walked me to the subway and made me promise to call him when I got home. He said, "Because I'm old and I'm Jewish and I worry about you."

Overall, I had fun and he's very cute. I'm fairly certain that it was indeed a date. We'll see where this goes. I'll call him soon, he seems to respond enthusiastically when I make an initial gesture. And then, I don't know.