Friday 26 July 2002

The story so far: I love her. She likes me a bit. Her family is amused. My family is probably stopped reading, since nothing has happened for like 7 years. What happens today? (Pic of the day: Screenshot from The Sims Hot Date.)

The lunch date

Norwegians have rather hazy notions about what a "date" actually is...

We hadn't decided on a place to go, so she called me back at work. Unsurprisingly, she called a bit later than agreed on; her family is like that, and many others on the South Coast too. She didn't have my direct number (we used those instead of extensions) so she had to call our phone desk. There she was informed that I was probably gone for lunch, but luckily they still transferred the call. "I was tempted to tell them 'I am his lunch date'" she told me. Actually I wish she had: The phone girls deserve what amusement they can get. And the word "date" in connection with me should be quite amusing indeed.

Actually half a family was my lunch date. Apart from SuperWoman herself there was her sister Cutie, two brothers, and the long-time girlfriend of one of those brothers. So there was no immediate risk of extensive kissing and groping. Not that there would have been anyway, but at least this way the non-kissing and non-groping was well documented. Should stand up to any court inquiry. So if I have a kid around nine months from now, there'll be no doubt about who is not the mother. Hold on, that's not how it works, is it? ^_^

***

We went to GLIPP, a popular and informal new restaurant in the library building. They sell bagels and salads and pasta and pizza. When we came around 12:00 noon, there was plenty of free tables inside. When we left, the place was almost full. Kristiansand draws quite a lot of tourists, and the restaurant is centrally located near the main street. I have never been there before, it has seemed too trendy for me. McDonald's is more my style.

(And if I had known that she would pay, I would definitely have tried to scale it down. Yes, she has fantasized about doing that during her many long student years, but I hadn't expected her to start already. I mean, she hasn't even paid down her student loans yet. And she doesn't earn much more than I yet, if at all.)

The food was good. I had a Greek salad with Feta cheese and olives and much other green and healthy goodness. I hardly ate half of it, there was so much. The younger folks emptied their plates, and a bit later we all had dessert. The food tasted quite strongly but not unpleasantly so; it was the taste of fresh, high-quality ingredients rather than excess spices. Even though I only ate half of the salad, it was a larger meal than I am used to.

But even had it been only a cheeseburger for each of us, I would have been satisfied. I did not eat out for the food, but for the company. It's half a year since I have seen these my friends. And one of them, as you know, is closer to my heart than anyone else in the world. You may quip that this doesn't say much: I have been compared to a cold dead fish. Still, there are some very few people whose company I even prefer over being alone (at least for a while). And foremost among them is she.

I guess is still love her, in a way. Perhaps I will always do. That is not really wrong in itself; I don't demand or even expect the feeling to be reciprocated – I'm not even sure I would want that if it were possible. But on the other hand I feel that it would better behoove me to love all equally, or to love them most who most need it. That's how divine love is supposed to work, isn't it? But I guess I'm not divine. What a terrible surprise!

You learn something new every date...