Dunedin - you darling lovely city.
Samples was right, I really do need to hold onto my hat!
I was in a shit mood. Just grumpy and moody and generally displeasing to be around. Whats the best way to reverse this?... Some good ol' flirting, with the possibility of a lovely innocent make-out to follow.
ENTER: The Professor.
Our first night in town and in search of some cider, KFarm, The Canadian and I end up at a bar on the corner in the Octagon (basically the downtown area of Dunedin, shaped like...you guessed it...an octagon).
We land on a lovely table in the middle of the bar and snag a few hard ciders. Relaxing and surveying the scene, I do some casual window shopping. I notice a tall gentleman facing away from me at the table behind ours, and casually slip to the ladies room to snag a better look......
.....
Shit. He's pretty damn cute too!
ENTER: Chin Strap and The Asian Wingman.
Oh Chin Strap. Your beard is hideous. NO ONE should EVER grown a chin strap beard. EVER.
As I'm ordering another cider I get chatted up by Chin Strap and The Asian Wingman. They follow me back to our table (sorry again girls!) and proceed to split their attention between KFarm and myself. I have a lovely 20 minute conversation with The Asian Wingman about how he thinks that he loves his girlfriend (who currently lives in Missouri). KFarm enjoyed some awkward moments with Chin Strap (see: That Awkward Moment When)
The Canadian ends up over at the at the other table, as they overheard her accent and coincidentally were going to Canada later this year.
The dynamic duo depart our table after buying rounds of tequila shots for us didn't seem to make us any more receptive, but you never knew when Chin Strap was going to show back up....he would flit off for a minute then...BAM...he's back over your shoulder. His sudden absence sent KFarm and I scrambling to The Canadians current table.
Well....hello there Professor.
1. Tall.
2. A pleasing mixture of rugged and adorable.
3. New Zealand accent.
Feeling awkward and not up to dancing just yet, I figured I had nothing to loose and thought to myself: "Yes, I think I'll just park myself riiiiiight here at your elbow for the next 20 or so minutes and we'll see if there's a brain in there as well....."
4. He is S-M-A-R-T.
The next few bits are a little jumbled up in my head chronologically, so I'll revert to bullet points:
- I didn't pay for a drink the rest of the night.
- The DJ and I were BFF's for about 3 hours.
- New Zealand accents are the tequila of linguistics.
- I did the washing machine on the dance floor (Top Ten Ways You Know LP is Drunk)
At one point, The Professor and I are face to face. How this happened I cant recall, but I wasn't mad about it.
Eye contact: Established.
Eye contact: Maintained for 1.....2......3......4 seconds.
Solid make out. On a dance floor. With a kiwi. That. Just. Happened.
Then.....the music cuts and the lights are flicked on momentarily blinding me. Suddenly, I'm skipping like a school girl out the front door. All four of us are standing in the street, its 2am and The Professor is saying goodbyes to my traveling companions.
Eye contact: Re-established
Eye contact: Maintained for 1......2.......ah screw it. My hands snake behind his head and (again) solid make out. For 10ish minutes. In the middle of the road. Like. A. Boss.
I finally manage to distract myself enough to pull away, mutter something cute and vapid like "Really, no I mean realllly nice to meet you. If I'm ever in town again, I'm hunting you down." He flashes the most knee weakening grin my way and says something in agreement and away we go. Me skipping like an idiot, him sauntering down the road most likely never to be seen again.
KFarm and Canada try and talk me into emailing him the next day, but I politely refuse. It was too perfect of a moment, and my luck would be that he's married, or actually a douche bag, or boring as hell, or some horrible combo of all three. I wanted to leave it as a sweet, passionate lip lock in the middle of the road at 2am in New Zealand.
Until we opted to stay in town for a week instead of two days as originally planned.
My curiosity got the better of me...
Ignoring all logic in my head, I shoot him an email with some nonsense about "Oh, I just want some advice on neat things in the area. Where are good hikes, great food, etc., etc."
And what do you know, he actually wrote me back!
Lines of entertaining witty banter later, and I am suddenly rather interested to talk to him in a non-intoxicated state.
Evening plans were discussed, and seeing as neither KFarm nor Canada wanted to go out, he was stuck with me. Im not sure at this point exactly what he was thinking, but I was slightly petrified.
A. I couldn't remember for the life of me if he really was as cute as I thought he was.
B. In modern day america, there can be certain "expectations" that go along with having drinks, and I just don't operate that way.
C. The inevitable thought of: What if he's actually interested in either of my rather attractive traveling companions and is just being polite in dealing with my nerd conversation and lack of fashionable dress?
I tell myself to quit being an idiot and just go have a quick drink. It'll either be fun, or it will suck.
I throw on some decently attractive combination of clothing that I have and scoot out the door before Canada and KFarm try and dress me up any more than I'm comfortable with. They tried to get me to wear a scarf for goodness sakes! (Hey you: true story. Focus, and quit snickering to yourself.)
Waiting in front of the bar we met at originally a million thoughts whizz through my head. I lost myself in negativity for a moment....
What if he stands me up?
What if my hair looks horrible?
What if he thinks I'm boring?
"Well, hello there." Says a pair of shoes with a kiwi accent suddenly standing next to me.
My eyes fly up the tall frame that is now facing me. Eye contact: ......... Look at that smirk. He's waaaaaay cuter than I remember......
Shit, did I put deodorant on??
Continued...
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