There are few experiences on Earth that can be described as both magical and nauseating at the same time. I am referring to, of course, the art of the first date. Last Thursday, I embarked on this venture with fellow Reflector writer John Baladi. But please, allow me to start at the beginning.
In my humble opinion, the hour or so leading up to a first date are some of the worst moments of one’s life. The nervousness is at a peak, and all there is to do is prepare yourself and wait. Will this person be a psycho with whom you will have to eventually involve law enforcement, or will you spend the rest of your life with them? Or worse, both?
John and I began our night running to his car in the pelting rain. He immediately opened the car door, and I pulled on the handle until he unlocked the passenger’s side. Strike one, some would say.
I did eventually get into the car, and we began our trek to our predetermined location. Tonight, we would be dining at the nicest place in Starkville, the pinnacle of upscale dining, and America’s drive in. Yes, dear reader, we ate at Sonic. This was a joint decision based on both John’s love of all things Sonic and my intense craving for their sauced popcorn chicken.
It is now that I bring up music. One bonus of our restaurant choice was that we got to pick our own background music. John, being in the driver’s seat, was connected to the ever-important aux. He held that position with both tact and grace, picking music that could easily be talked over, while also showing me quite a bit about himself. You can, of course, tell an enormous amount about a person based on their music taste.
I have no idea how or why, but eventually our topic of conversation became house music and its merits at a party. So, for purposes of honesty, I will admit we listened to a bit of house music at that point.
Our food came and was devoured with efficiency. I learned that John is not a fan of spicy food. Strike two. A recurring midnight snack for me is hot sauce on saltine crackers. Judge me, I dare you.
One of the more common worries when it comes to first dates is that the conversation will be subpar. I will absolutely say that awkward silence on a first date is one of the most awful but common things to happen. We did not have that issue. A particular quality of being a writer for the Opinion section is that you find it pretty easy to elaborate on a simple idea for around a thousand words.
Our conversation included the typical “getting-to-know-you” spiel, but it was promising in that we found ourselves discussing everything else under the sun. Forget the weather, our classes or the random going-ons of our day, we discussed our most specific hyper-fixations.
This is not to say we agreed on everything. I attempted to convert John to an Ethel Cain super fan like I, a woman of culture, am. It was unsuccessful. He attempted to get me to laugh at a Babylon Bee headline. It was unsuccessful. But we found ourselves in total agreement on more than a few topics, which I would say is essential.
Looking back on the date with a few days of hindsight, I ask myself, will there be a second date? Well, that is for me to know and for The Reflector readers to speculate about.
To read John Baladi’s half of the face-off, click here.
