Dating and Professional Associations

The event: A spring social for young/new professionals in my field. The location: A trendy new restaurant in the downtown. The crowd: a fun mix of friends, collegues and strangers. We all essentially have the same job and that gives us an excuse to drink and socialize.

At this event, business cards and phone numbers are traded and passed around like Pokemon cards on a playground. A large group of us were on the patio ordering food and making introductions. A guy approached me and introduced himself as "Darin", he gave me his card and said, "I hope this doesn't sound weird, but I would really like to introduce you to my friend over there across the table. He doesn't know I'm doing this, but I think you two should meet". I told him that was fine and we walked over to the other side. Darin introduced me to "John". John was nice enough, but seemed a little old. I estimated about 35 (later I read his profile on his company's website and my estimate is now up to 38/39. We talked for a few minutes, the conversation was pretty neutral and ordinary.

Then "Mr. Personality" showed up. He was loud, the center of attention and a little over the top. But, he kept standing next to me and inviting everyone to an upscale restaurant down the street. The friend that I had drove to the event with interrupted my conversation with John and introduced me to Mr. Personality. He told us that if we left this place and met him at the other restaurant in 20 minutes... dinner was on him. We closed our tab. I'm not one to pass up a free dinner.

John was sitting right next to me watching the entire interaction unfold. To his credit, he picked up the pace, asked for my card and asked me out. I said sure (He's calling me this weekend).

Needless to say, my friend and I met Mr. Personality at the other restaurant. I had some killer chocolate cake. Mr. Personality came off his caffeine high and ended up being rather sweet. My friend sat inbetween us. He leaned over and told my friend that he liked me (but he said it loud enough for me to hear it). It was starting to get late, so I thanked him for dinner and we agreed to go out sometime. Who knows when that will be. We'll see if he calls. I think I gave him my number... I can't remember.