Double Dating in Massachusetes

To spice things up in the datingverse, and to utilize having Noah around, Megan and I decided to try a doublefirst date in Boston. Our plans to take a hot air balloon ride were drenched with inclement weather (shakes tiny fist at rain but not too hard because when wet, Boston is even more beautiful than when dry) so Megan and I took our dates to get fancy cupcakes.

Double first dating, when both dates are for all intents and purposes blind dates, is weird (to say the least). There are a lot of strangers going on in this scenario: the guys are strangers to one another, and each guy is a stranger to both Megan and myself. It’s a clash of the personalities all within the context of trying to figure out if maybe one day you’d want to be intimate with one of the people involved. With frosting.

When Megan and I arrived, gussied up and drizzled on, we found the boys waiting…together. They had been awkwardly making small talk, figuring they had to be connected since not too many single dudes loiter outside bakeries. Greetings were exchanged, and in we went.

Oh god. First, get four adults to make up their mind about flavors and tack on getting strangers to communicate with one another about what they want, and you wind up with the fifteen minute ordering session/debate all four of us went through. All of us were interested in trying more than one flavor, and then of course since we were on dates both Megan and I were trying to coordinate with our guys about what they were getting so there was no overlap. Add into it Megs and I trying to figure out if we’d all be sitting together so we’d know if we could nibble on each other’s choices as well…It wasn’t bad per say – just awkward for us and the guy pulling the cupcakes out.*

Once our selections were firmly placed in their little cupcake carrier (which looked a lot like a six-pack beer holder), the four of us trooped outside, Megs making small talk with her guy, me making small talk with mine. It was clear the two guys weren’t gung ho for another – and rightly so, they came to meet Megan and me, not each other – so as we ambled to the Harvard campus to find a quiet place to sit, we paired off.

At Harvard, we found an eclectic batch of multi-colored chairs. With some quick wiping down via napkins, and some not-quick rearranging directed by Noah and attempting to be executed by four mostly strangers (us – which was an interesting little experiment in group dynamics), we sat down in pairs with Megan and her date about ten feet behind me and mine, a little off center and as though they were just on another part of a bus full of invisible friends.

I wish I could give you details as to what my date and I talked about because I remember it feeling important and interesting. He was a nice guy who went to MIT and had a lot of theories about dating, relationships, and life. And he looked pretty good in a clingy white t-shirt (whoa, did I just objectify him?). But honestly, when I recall that date all I really remember is the fact that I could hear Megan’s voice throughout, and because I am so accustomed to listening when she talks I was having an impossible time blocking her out. Focusing on the boy at hand was a challenge. Later, Megs admitted she was having the same problem as me.

Go figure.

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*Side note: these high-end cupcake places really should offer samples much as an ice cream parlour does. It would make the whole selection/satisfaction process a lot easier.

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