#theenginerd

After my awkward phone call with the Ex, I went out of town for the weekend to clear my head. 

When I returned, the Enginerd asked me out to dinner for our third date. 

I was having a really stressful week at work, to the point where my stomach was in knots all day (not to mention I was on my period).

Noticing my duress, he asked if I wanted to cuddle at his apartment instead of grabbing a second drink after dinner.

Do I want to cuddle? Unlike every other girl in the universe (ok, maybe just my girlfriends), I feel horribly awkward cuddling with someone I'm not super close to. But, I agreed anyway.

It turned out to be the best idea ever. We had a really long talk about our past relationships, likes and dislikes, turn ons and offs. My stomach pains faded away as I curled up next to him. I was actually starting to really like him.

Then I didn't hear from him the following week… which also happened to be my birthday.

Big, fat Strike #1. And he was on such a roll.

Status update: I've been single for almost exactly a month, dabbled in a few random dates, and now that my prospects are blooming, it's time for things to really take off.

I've been asked out on 3 dates this week, and I'm feeling good about the first one – with the tall guy I "met" at my friend's birthday. I started calling him the Enginerd after we talked on the phone (because of his job and also, I find nerds irresistible). 

He suggested a casual bar a few blocks from his apartment, so I picked him up on the way. He's a little shy so it took a few topics to really get the conversation going, but through and through it was a great date. We started by grabbing a happy hour bite to eat, moved on to pints at a speakeasy, then a whiskey nightcap at an irresistibly romantic (and insanely pretentious) rooftop bistro near his apartment.

There was a palpable sense of adventure – we didn't really have a plan so we just made it up as we went, exploring the "up and coming" area that is downtown LA.