the young boys

setting it up: on the other side of the window screen, the rain is pouring down in sheets; i'm wrapped up in a blanket, sitting in the living room talking to kate on the phone. she's telling me a story about how she ended up at a swingers bar the night before due to absolute naivete. little did i know then, but days later i would find myself on the other side of the phone, making a girlfriend or two laugh hysterically at my, ahem, absolute naivete.

friday night any bar/restaurant in dallas is insanely busy-so when i got a message from the hostess that a guy named "brian" called, i blew it off not out of only hast and being dumbfounded at who would call me at work, but as well, out of fear that it might be an old geezer that i had waited on and shot down on numerous occasions before. the next night, "brian" called again and this time around, i was free as a bird to decipher the mystery caller. as it turned out, his name wasn't brian, but ryan. the ryan i had met a week or two ago at the dwide when his band, which i went to see because a: my boss manages them, and b: i had made friends with the bass player at a party and had promised him i was going to come "check them out" next time; now, this ryan, is not only the said bassists younger brother, but also, is seventeen years old, in highschool, is a scorpio, hasn't yet quite decided if he'll go to prom or not, likes bukowski and red flag, and is cuter than a button. i know all this because, after their show that night back at the dwide, i found myself sitting next to the younger, and, being in a chatty little mood, spent most of the evening, excuse the repetitiousness, chatting away.

but the phone conversation at work was short and to the point:

"hanging out at dwide, if your not doing anything after work, you should come on up".

which i decided sounded like not too bad of an idea.

and so, i strolled on into the bar looking for 'the group', to my surprise, what i found instead was a quiet and adorable seventeen year old boy sitting at the bar sipping on his beverage in the non-alcoholic water cup...alone.

realizing at that moment it was going to, possibly, be just the two of us, i decided not to allow the awkwardness and embarrassment toil my 'off early' saturday night, and to the contrary, make the most of my under age date while still undoubtedly laying the foundation of "pals" as quicky as possible.

the remainder of the night went as follows:

beer and sunflower seeds
jack in the box
getting high in his car while listening to brian jonestown massacre
leaving with a side hug and a high five

whether or not my seventeen year old meant anything romantic by it, i'll never surely know. regardless, ryan was, hands down, one of my most enjoyable dates to date. maybe because he didn't try to 'get fresh' with me, maybe because it was like two new friends with loads in common pushing past the age gap and enjoying each others company; or, maybe because it seemed innocent and sweet; like absolute naivete should be.