That Night.

We had spent the last hour browsing shop after shop in an attempt to find the perfect outfit for a party I didn't really even care to attend. It's always the same old people, same stuffy attitudes, same cliques. Why she loves these things so much is beyond me. I go to people watch, drink a bit and convince her to leave when I get bored.

In desperation to find..something...anything to wear we ended up in Gadzooks. Why exactly we even went into this store is beyond me. They sell cheap t-shirts with really bad slogans on them and horrible juniors clothes. I had crossed the threshhold. I was officially at the point where if I didn't find something soon, I was going to have a meltdown. A green top caught my eye, it was one of those 'I think I'm a slip, but I'm really a blouse' shirts that were ever so popular a few years ago. It was gorgeous green with a cream lace trim and small beadwork on the lace. I knew the beads would fall off by the second wearing but I didn't care. It was cute, cheap and fit me in all the right spots so I went with it. At the time I had this reddish colored short hair and the green worked perfectly.

She had been telling our friend about this guy that she had to meet. She thought they'd be perfect for eachother. She had met him at another event the week before and thought he must be right for someone she knew. And in theory, our friend really did need to meet someone nice so it should have worked. I thought nothing of this guy, I was already a dating mess. The culmination of many back to back long relationships and making the decision that I needed to be single . I had a summer of absolute freedom and fun. I had never been so single in my life and it felt great. Months of singledom was fabulous- why on earth anyone would ever complain about being single is beyond me. Except for the fact that boys are vicious and generally say anything they can to get you in bed and then they'll just forget about you. That part pretty much sucked. But, I was having fun and not looking for anyone in particular.

The night of the party I got ready as usual. I normally finished getting ready long before she did. And that night was no different, I waited for her and played with the dog for about ten, our friend arrived and we were out. In an attept to fit in with the crowd, I borrowed her pearl bracelet at the last minute.

And off we went, arriving at the party fashionably late. The three of us walked through the building and out the back door and down the steps where the band was set up. We mingled and mixed for about an hour or so and I had reached the point of boredom. She had met quite a few people and I felt like the outcast. I had promised not to talk about politics that night, amazingly I actually kept that promise. I expressed my interest in leaving, she agreed. We could not find our friend anywhere. And then we found her, playing kissyface with a boy I had never seen before. Good for her, I thought.... nights like that were always fun. Just as we had met up with our friend and her kissyface partner she said.... oh there he is...there is Adam. At this point she knew that Adam would see our friend with the kissyface partner and that would be the end of that.

When I looked up from the bottom of the steps I saw him, actually you couldn't miss him. He was wearing the brightest orange space suit with DJ style headphones dangling around his neck and to top it all off he had bright white rubber knee boots on. I suppose I forgot to mention earlier that this party was taking place the weekend of Halloween, but was not- I repeat- was not a Halloween party. I looked at him with interest as I saw him standing there gazing over the crowd. She and I left the friend and her kissyface partner behind to go say hello. Conveniently, she had to use the restroom about a minute after we walked up to him. Eyeing the long bathroom line when we first arrived, I stayed behind and struck up a conversation about music. That was my tactic, talk about music or sports and that gets the conversation rolling. Adam had the most peircing blue eyes and tan skin. He was adorable, even if I was a few inches taller than him in my heels.

Within three minutes he asked me if I wanted to walk down to the river with him. Without even hesitating, I replied, "yes." He took my hand, how bold I thought. I followed him through the crowd, stopping to pick up a beer. As we were walking I remember him quoting something from As Good as it Gets. Maybe it was the line about selling crazy someplace else, maybe it wasn't. All I remember is that I laughed and followed him down to the river. We sat on the concrete bank and talked about everything...who we were, what we did, where we were from, our families. I had an actual conversation with Adam, and it didn't involve sports. I had almost forgot what this felt like. It felt good, it felt right.

At this point in my life I was utterly obsessed with "Softlips" chapstick. Being in the wind, the river had chapped my lips and I reached into my purse to find my chapstick, explained my obsession and offered Adam some. I seriously offered a boy chapstick, who does that? I don't know what I was thinking. And this is when I knew that he was special- He not only accepted my offer of chapstick, he kissed me to get it. He leaned in, put his hand behind my neck and right there on the river he kissed me. I got tingles and I couldn't stop. We just sat there kissing.....

She finally found me after an hour or more of looking. She laughed and when I looked up I realized how late it was. The crowd was sparce and it was definintly time to go. Adam couldn't find his ride, they had left him. He lived at the beach, so we offered him a ride home. We took photos in the car on the way back to the condo. I laughed and smiled so hard that night, it felt so good, so right. Once we got back to the condo, we hopped in my car and I took him to his house. He invited me in, and I accepted. His place was adorable- his mom or exgirlfriend must have decorated the place I thought. But he gloated, he had done everything himself. Intersting, I thought.

It was nearly 2 a.m. and I was exhausted, needing to get home and go to sleep. We said our goodbyes and I told him I would call him. Which is what I did the very next day.