The Husband Story, part 1

I've been married for a while now. My marriage is ok. Not good, not bad. Real bland and boring. We work, we eat, we sleep. That's about it.

When I met my husband, I thought he talked to me only on a dare. His buddies were elbowing him to speak to me (I was minding my own business, eating chicken fingers at the bar, killing time before my train left). So naturally, I thought he was joking or fulfilling a dare when he asked me if he could sit down. I said "ok" and we started talking. I felt too uncomfortable to finish my dinner, so I had the waitress pack it up for me. I can't even tell you what we talked about. All I remember is that he was kind of cute and that I gave him my number when he asked for it. I'd never done that before in my life.

I left the bar knowing that he wouldn't call me. About a week goes by and I'd forgotten about him. I was real busy with work and school and didn't have much time to think about anything else, especially with finals on the horizon. Anyway, one Saturday afternoon I got home from doing some grocery shopping and there was a message from him on my machine. I thought it was a wrong number at first, but then I remembered who it was. He said he wanted to maybe go out for dinner and left his number for me to call him back. I didn't. At least for another day.

When I did get the courage to call him, I asked him why he wanted to see me, of all people. He said that he thought I was "pretty" and "interesting". I didn't know how to take it so I just said "oh". He asked when he could pick me up for dinner. I hesitated, still thinking I was some big (no pun intended) joke. I finally said 8:00, told him where I lived, and hung up.

The dinner was ok. I don't think I ate one bite, even though I was starving. I didn't want him to see me eating. I talked about the courses I was taking and he told me about his job. We talked about our high school days as well as family stuff. When the bill came, he asked me if I wanted to go somewhere else for a drink. I said "ok". I thought it was nice he paid the bill, even though I offered to pay for my half.

We went to some generic sports bar that was around the coner. I hate sports and I'm not very fond of bars, but I didn't put up a fight. The place was loud with people watching basketball on one of the seven thousand televisions. The air smelled of both disinfectant and cigarettes. Strange. And there were mostly men present. I think I only saw one or two other women. I felt uncomfortable right away.

Once we got settled at a booth (I was really uncomfortable squished in, since the table was fastened to the floor and wouldn't push out), we ordered some drinks. He got a beer and I got a whisky sour. I'd never had one before, but it was the first thing that popped into my mind.

When they arrived, he asked me what kind of music I like. I told him. Then we talked about movies we've seen recently. I hadn't seen that many since school got in the way. He thought that was funny for some reason. He asked me if I liked to go dancing. I said I also haven't been able to do that in a long time. He said "well, we'll have to do that when you get some free time."

(to be continued...)