The Hand Holder

So it’s Friday night, I’m off work and want to go out. I decide to drag my lovely roommate Caroline out to Santa Monica to meet up with this guy and his friends. I figure a “friend” meet up is easy, no pressure, just drinks and getting to know each other. WRONG!
We get to Copa De Oro in Santa Monica and I spot him across the room. Pony tail, earring, crushed velvet blazer. I think I like it. Kind of artsy, different, my roommate laughs at the earring, my opinion starts to shift. He comes up and kisses me on the cheek. Ok I get it; we’re adults, that’s an adult move. I remember when I was a kid watching my parents kiss their friends on the cheek and thinking “what the hell is going on here” but it must be an acquired taste, like olives, right? So we get to talking, we meet his friends. Poor Caroline, she gets stuck talking to all of his lame friends while he smothers me with attention. When he talks he gets really close to my face, arm around me, his eyes boring into mine. I start to stutter, overwhelmed by the attention and embarrassed in front of Caroline. He asks me if I’m nervous.
I blush.
Fuck!
Now he thinks I’m into him.
I giggle, and say “yeah just a little”, and then, he goes in for the hand hold. Seriously! Holding my Hand? Bold move buddy.
He keeps trying to hold it; I keep fidgeting and moving my hand away. He asks why I’m so fidgety, I freak out, “umm nerves I guess, you’re really attentive”. I wish he had the ability to decode that message, it really means “Eww your hands are really soft and I don’t like this much attention you creep”. They never get it!
To tell you the truth, it’s not just the over load of attention that makes me nervous, I don’t like being claimed so quickly. Here I am, in my little lace dress, out and about, and he claims me like a fucking treasure chest. I have no chance to check out the scene, talk to anyone else, dance with anyone else, because I’m his. That might be the commitment issues talking, but regardless, I don’t like it.
Then the dancing happens. Caroline wants to dance. She senses the awkwardness and pulls me on the dance floor. The second we start him and his friends swoop in. Sexy girls dancing, Fuck Yeah! He grabs my hand to dance with me. Enough with the hand buddy! I pull away and coolly tell him I don’t believe in dancing with a man. I’m not sure where that came from but I’m desperate!
He laughs and says cool I get it. But does he? Then I proceed to throw out the most awkward dance moves possible to encourage him to back off. But no, he finds it endearing. Finally we decided it’s appropriate to leave, he follows us out, and as we say good bye he grabs my hands and tells me how much fun he had. Yeah, Yeah, I know it was “fun” please stop touching me.
Then he does it,
he leans in for the kiss!
I’m stunned by his confidence and immediately “cheek” him. What could I have possibly done to make him think I wanted a kiss? The fidgeting, the awkward robot moves, the constant physical rejections?
I grab Caroline and we scurry off to the car. She laughs, I laugh, and we head home.
This whole dating thing is going to be harder than I thought.