My Date with Eugie...

My date with Eugie went well,.................. I guess. I got to her house about 7:45, knowing that we had 8 PM reservations for Tutti Santi's. I made a side trip to my favorite florist at Fresh n Easy to pick up pink roses. Eugie is one of those pink freaks that wears pink all of the time, even has a pink lounge chair in her family room for her granddaughter. Naturally when I saw the pink ones, they were my choice. I pulled up in front to her house and hid the flowers behind my back, as if I were the first man to ever give a date flowers? When she opened the door and the door was missing it's door knob and I wondered where I'd seen that situation in the past, I whipped out the flowers, she took then, never to mentioned or be heard from again. Later I asked if a lot of guys bought her flowers for a first date and she said about 1/2. So much for my attempt at originality. At some point I mention that the flowers were to ply her with, in case she was thinking of going to bed with me, maybe the flowers would put her over the edge in my favor. With a serious look on her face, she said it's wasn't going to be a problem. Humph!

Her house was awesome with it having been freshly painted and carpeted with everything removed from the walls. It still smelled from fresh paint and the contractor was called away on a family emergency and never finished the re-hanging of pictures and fixtures, thus the missing door knob.We headed out for Tutti Santi's, had the usual amount trouble finding it in that confusing shopping center and parked behind the place, entering through the kitchen. My first time going in that way. Surprisingly all of the employees, cooks and dish washers greeted us with a warm hello. We headed for the reception desk and announced our reservations, but it appeared that they weren't necessary, since there were only about 3 other people in that entire restaurant. The economy taking it's toll. The young girl looked at me and asked if I were Mel, probably the only reservation they had that night. I said I was, she seated us in a rather spacious booth that could accommodate about 8 people. Eugie had had lunch and although I hadn't eaten all day, I was reluctant to order too much in view if my still ailing jaw. Loaded up on ibuprofen, we agreed to order a ravioli appetizer to split and the linguine with white clams sauce to split, as well. Neither of us drink, making that a skipped course.

Typically, the food was great and they padded the bill and I didn't even complain. When you know a place pads the bill and you still choose to go there, you can hardly complain when they do what you know they're going to do. With tip, our ravioli appetizer and one order of linguine and white clams came to $56.00. Must be that new math!

We stayed uncomfortably long as everyone else was leaving and our waitress had come over for the 4th time to see if we wanted anything else. We had paid the bill 20 minutes earlier and the poor girl wanted to go home. We left. Eugie invited me into her house to chat. I figured my flowers were finally going to pay off, but no, we talked. And talked and talked and talked some more. She was laying on her sofa and had her feet scrunch under me as I sat upright and talked and talked and talked. Several times I asked if she were ready for me to make my exit, but she insisted she was enjoying my company and to please stay. My inner voice was thinking about what flowers usually bought me, but I continued telling stories. At one point I noticed her eyes closed and remain closed a little long for a blink and checked my watch and noticed it was almost 2 AM. That's when I insisted on leaving and asked for my good night kiss. She explained very matter-of-factly that this was our first real date and all I get is a kiss on the cheek. With that she grabbed my face grandmother style and gave me this popping, sucking, whole cheek in her mouth, kiss. She pushed me out the door, thanking me for dinner and all I could say was, next time we're kissing on the lips......................with tongue! Why do I feel like I'm 17 again?