It's an inside job! (Part 3)

The week after the Valentine’s Day debacle, one of my friends tells me that my date had reached out to her (they live in the same neighborhood and of course he has her number now) to go out for wine. She asked if I would like to join? She said a big group of them were meeting out.

Here I am absolutely gobsmacked that he didn’t ask me to join, she did. I was 100% not going to attend. No way! Nor did I feel confident that I could sit there and not blast him. So, I made the right decision and stayed home.

I asked my friend the day after how it went. She said it was great! It was all single girls and my date. She said he was in heaven. I bet. What in the Sister Wives is going on?

I decided I should lay low for a while with the whole situation. I wasn’t sure of my next move but knew I needed to cool off a bit.

Then, the gift who keeps on giving reaches back out to me. He asked if I wanted to go to a dinner theater after work? As you might have guessed, I decided I would like to give my final shellacking in person, so I said hell yes!

He suggested we meet at this bar/restaurant close to the dinner theater so we could have a drink before the show. I said, great.

I get there before him and do a lap around the bar. It was packed, not a seat to be had. So, I wait out front for him to get there. When he arrives, I say, we might want to pick a different place as there are no seats and not even a place to stand?

He said, let’s check again. I was thinking, what could have changed? But I agreed. We go in and sure enough, he has two of his coworkers at a table which has two empty seats. He acted surprised to see them, but I feel like this was all set up in advance. My spidey senses were up.

They invite us to sit, and they start talking work. He has a fascinating job, so I was interested in hearing their conversations. Then, one of his coworkers turns to me and says, how is the sales business these days? Um, I never even mentioned I was in sales? This confirmed that he told them about me and planned for us to meet.

We all have a very fun conversation and I really liked his coworkers. I was a bit miffed that I couldn’t start his shellacking because we were in a crowd, but I had all night to accomplish this, so I wasn’t worried. As they were getting ready to leave, one leans over to my guy and says, I really like her. They didn’t know I overheard this, and he replies, yes, isn’t she great?

So, now we are off to the dinner theater. As our server brings us to our table, I am quickly reminded with these settings, you are seated with another couple. For the love of all things holy! When will I be able to give the shellacking?

I knew nothing about the show we were going to watch but it ended up being like a Cirque du Soleil meets female impersonators meets burlesque type of entertainment. It was a theater in the round so it was very interactive.

The couple next to us were great and very much in love. Actually, it was clear to me that everyone who attended was on a date as I was sitting there seething.

Because it was theater in the round, my guy was sitting to my left and I had to look past him to watch the show. I see his phone blowing up. It was messages from some guy. He tells him he is on a date so he would talk to him later. Am I in the Twilight Zone? So, this is another date.

I just keep thinking, we are in our 50’s, you would think the games would have been gone long ago. He asks me out, asks my friends out and thinks it will all just be copacetic? Anyway, I digress.

While we are eating, all of these female impersonators keep coming by our table to chat. We were having a good time goofing around with them and then a surprising thing happened.

The whole place had to get up and slow dance. It was part of the show. They made sure we did so by coming around and making us get up. We couldn’t get out of it.

Now, again the majority of the people are very much in love, so the slow dance is no problem for them. I felt like I was at the most awkward prom of my life. I have my hand on his shoulder and the other hand in his hand and it was brutal. We just rocked back and forth sideways. I actually am turning red just writing this. It was so cringe worthy and I had first and second hand embarrassment.

It felt like the longest song of my life. I had to get out of this dance and quickly. So, this female impersonator in probably 10-inch heels walks by. I call her over and tell her she can cut in. She happily obliges and I thankfully sit down. Now, my date is dancing with someone who is about a foot taller than him. It was brilliant.

After the dance, my date goes to the bathroom. Unbeknownst to me (and I am sure him), the female impersonator goes to the bathroom too. He comes back to our table with a spiked dog collar around his neck with a long leash. He looked absolutely ridiculous and totally submissive in that moment. He had to give some command for it to be removed. This was the most poetic justice a girl could receive.

After dinner, he said he would walk me home. We ended up going to a bar by my house for a final night cap. Finally, I could say my peace. However, I ended up losing the fire. I don’t know why but, it just didn’t seem worth it. I told him I didn’t appreciate him getting my friends numbers. He said he meant no disrespect. I said fine and just left it at that. I didn’t even have the will or energy to fight about it. I knew we didn’t have a romantic future and I also knew I would see him out and about because of our mutual friend, so, I just took the high road.

Lesson learned? Taking the high road is a road less traveled for a reason. It is the harder way to go. I see many people take the low road and too many exits. That just brings drama to life and I want drama free as much as possible! Also, I will have that picture of him on the dog collar in my head (and on my phone) forever. That is enough for me!