sean + bekah: the first date

This is the third in a series of posts telling Sean & I's "love story." Click here to start from the beginning.

Sean and I started having frequent conversations via AIM. All the obligatory "getting to know you" stuff: opinions, beliefs, hobbies, and lots of chit chat.

He expressed early on that he was interested in meeting me. I had nothing against him, but after some of the losers I'd recently dealt with (the ones I mentioned last week here), I didn't know if I was up for dealing with another potential bust.

Sean persisted in a nice way, making the effort to let me know my terms of a public place with a friend in tow were all totally fine (even then there were creepers on the internet). I finally agreed and we picked a day to go see a movie.

This is the part where I mention a fun detail. We both lived in the suburbs. It just so happened that his was in Maryland while mine was in Northern Virginia. We lived about an hour apart (sans any DC traffic).

I don't remember where we initially agreed to meet, but I do remember it snowed on January 31, 2005 - our scheduled date day. It was the perfect excuse to cancel the whole thing. Again, Sean persisted, and offered (not for the first time) to come to me. Of course, I didn't want a stranger in my hometown, so I picked a familiar town north of me. 

We had agreed ahead of time to see The Aviator. It was late in its run, but nothing else of interest to us both was playing. (Sean would later reveal that he picked a movie in case we had nothing to talk about. Some of my friends get a kick out of this!)

via

Given the weather, the mall where we were meeting was rather empty. I waited on a bench outside the box office, guessing who he might be. A few guys walked by including one in glasses and a blue sweater. He passed by me without a glance. I knew it couldn't be him. All the better, I thought. He looks too smart for me.

My phone rang a few minutes later. It was Sean trying to find me. I stood up and walked around, looking for a young guy on his cell phone. Sure enough, it was blue sweater guy.

Our first "professional" pictures together (2006). That is the sweater!

We chitchatted a bit on our way into the theatre. He mentioned something technical. I had no clue what he was talking about, so I just said "OK," expecting the conversation to continue. Nope. "Do you know what that is?" He asked.

"No..."

Great. We just met and smart guy already thinks I'm stupid (this happened a few times throughout the evening).

The movie was entertaining, and like many people who watch movies, we whispered comments on occasion. At one point in the movie, I leaned over and whispered that Leonardo DiCaprio's lipstick was obvious and annoying the crap out of me. Right then, the old woman in front of this turned around and whisper-yelled at me to SHUT UP! Great. Clearly I'm making a good impression on this guy.

The movie finished and the mall was closed. We chitchatted some more while walking to the parking lot and gave each other a brief hug goodbye. No sparks had flown, and I had felt like an idiot a few times. I wasn't sure if there was potential there, and I really wasn't sure if he cared to see me again anyway...

See what happens next week!

[update: part 4 here]