Second Date

I was waiting for Derek outside the Gap at the intersection of Powell and Market Streets in downtown San Francisco last night and it suddenly hit me that it was a Tuesday night at 7 p.m. and I was in San Francisco! And, even stranger, I was waiting for a really cute guy to come meet me and take me out to dinner. This is NOT my normal life. But, I could get accustomed to such things! He spotted me first - we were surrounded by hordes of tourists waiting for a ride on the cable cars. He gave me a big smile and a sincere hug. We decided to escape tourist hell and take a taxi to Pacific Heights, his 'hood. We walked for a few blocks before settling on a cute little (emphasis on little) bistro right off Fillmore Street. The food was good, the wine was great, and the conversation with my very cute dinner partner was even better. I'm just really impressed by him, I don't know how else to describe it. He's intelligent, articulate, well-traveled, open minded, has good taste, knows about the finer things in life, yet is not snobby in the least, has a lot of interesting stories to tell, and most importantly, seems to think I'm great! We stayed at the restaurant until almost 9:30 p.m., and left when I told him I had to think about getting back to Oakland, where I had left my car in a parking garage that closed at 11:00 p.m. Bummer. We left the restaurant and walked to his car, our arms hooked. Then he did something sweet - he asked if he could switch sides with me, because he was brought up to make sure the man always walked closest to the street. Awww. How often does that happen? We got to his car and I knew we were close to his apartment, so I asked where it was. He said we had walked right by it. I still had some time to get to the BART station, so I asked if we could go see it. He's talked a lot about how amazing the place is, so I was curious. And it is amazing. His roommate owns the apartment. It's on the second floor of a house and has hardwood floors and huge, open vaulted ceilings. A nice kitchen, open to the family room/dining area and there was a massive wine collection (Derek's) to boot. His room is the loft upstairs, which you reach by climbing a tall and very steep ladder that is tilted at a slight angle. Somewhat unsure, I scrambled up after him. His room is so cool. He has a great view of the city through a huge window in the front room of the apartment, and there's another window with a ladder next to it. We climb out of the window and we're on the edge of the roof, with yet another wonderful view of the city. He chose this moment (appropriately) to kiss me, and I was again thinking, this is SO not a normal Tuesday night! Being kissed by a hot guy on the roof of his SF apartment, with city lights and the stars surrounding us?? Oh man. Back in his room again, some more kissing, me very, very reluctant to leave. We walk back to the car and he drops me at the Embarcadero BART station, after a prolonged goodbye. I tell him I might be in SF this weekend and he says to call him. Several more kisses later, I leave and have this huge smile on my face as I'm walking into the underground subway station. Now it's the next afternoon and the smile is pretty much still there! Let's see what this weekend holds in store.