So, about that female...

I promised to post later today about a certain female I encountered over the weekend, and damn it, I'm going to do it.

After a mostly lazy Sunday, I coerced Nick into going out downtown, thinking there would be decent nightlife due to the fact that Monday was Labor Day. Other young people had to be out partaking in "communion" as my old buddy Matt from college used to say. Well, as it turned out, that really wasn't the case.

We went to my favorite watering hole, The Flying Saucer. The place was mostly dead save for a few sparse groups of 30 somethings. However, that would soon change. Five minutes into my favorite dark beer (Battlefield Black), a pair of young women walk in and proceed to take the two bar stools to my immediate right. Lucky for me, the really beautiful one sat right next to me. As soon as this occured, I was searching my brain for something witty to say to her. Her friend, who was apparently already drunk before they got there, got up and went to the bathroom almost as soon as they sat down. This gave me an immediate chance to make a move, but I needed an in. And as luck would have it, she gave me an easy one. At a bar known for it's incredible beer selection, the girl proceeded to order a rum and coke.

Before I allowed my brain to jump in and and stop me from confronting my fear of approaching and talking to women, my mouth blurted out some teasing, chastising statement about her beverage of choice. She laughed, and instantly, I felt at ease. It was completely out of character for me. See, I've never been one to go out and pick up girls, get phone numbers, etc. Of the two girlfriends I've had in my life, both of them pursued me. This experience was completely new for me.

The conversation was standard fair for the most part early on...career, hobbies, etc. I quickly ran out of material and the conversation fizzled. She went back to talking to her friend for 5-10 minutes. Luckily, I quickly thought of something I had forgotten to mention: I'm writing a book. Girls love to read, so this easily re-engaged her interest in me. We talked about it for a good 10 minutes, when the strangest thing happened. She mentioned how much she enjoyed reading. I immediately said, "I know you do," to which she said "You do?" I said yes, you read Nicholas Sparks books. She looked astonished and said something to the effect of "How the hell did you know that?" I played it off like it was nothing for a minute or two, but she persisted. Then I said possibly the greatest thing I've ever said to a woman: "Yeah, you read all his books, you know, when you're not watching Grey's Anatomy." She practically fell out of the chair this time. I was in.

We proceeded to talk about general dating topics. It turned out she had been on a blind date the previous week, but it was nothing serious. I figured it was my time to close quickly having learned of this, so I said "That means you're open to dating other guys then." She nodded yes. I then wittingly said "So you don't mind giving me your number then", and damn if she didn't give it to me willingly. I had succeeded. I'm going to call her tomorrow and try to set up something simple in the near future. Today's lesson boys and girls: Maybe this whole picking up women thing is much easier than I originally thought. Stay tuned.

Did I mention she was beautiful?