This is a tangent to the Part 1 of "Dates". Parts 1, 2 and 3 of "Dates" can be found here: http://sajha.com/sajha/html/in... Thank you all again for reading! This is purely an art of fiction. Resemblance to any person, living or dead, is a mere co-incidence.  I have a lot of pet peeves. Guys dressed up like weezy, girls with fake tan, men wearing suits with running shoes and hundred others. Constant use of “u” for “you” “2” for “to” and similar texting lingo is pretty high up there in the list as well. Ok, I get that you are trying to save time and be efficient with those abbreviations, but when you use “meh” for “me”, you are just doing it wrong.  “Hey r u sleeping?”  When my phone lit up midnight, I cringed a little, but I recollected myself after I remembered his washboard abs. I am not the one to fall for a guy’s looks, but you can’t really blame me for finding that attractive.  “Nah, can’t sleep! Watching Downtown Abbey. What about you?”(notice the complete words there), I responded as I turned off the bright lights and lied down in bed.  “Ah, we are still kicking it at the bar. Zach just did a body shot off the slutty waitress who served us earlier.”  I still can’t comprehend the need for that second sentence. Was he trying to show me how much of a bro he was? Make me feel guilty for peacing too early? Tell me that I should respond to him promptly because he could find a slutty waitress for himself?  “Ok…?”, I left that one open ended.  “You should have stayed! This place is fun….we should come here together sometime!”  Although that wasn’t the best way to ask someone out, you have got to give the poor guy some credit for constantly texting me while his friends are downing shots like eighteen year old frat-guys.  “Sure, but I doubt I will be free for another couple weekends”, I tried indirectly to suggest a more appropriate venue.  “Do you want to grab lunch together then? Say, Tuesday?”- (now we were talking!)  “Ah sure, let me check my schedule and confirm tomorrow?”  My “schedule” on Tuesday only consisted of Calculus from 9-10 am, but I wanted him to work a little harder.  “Ok, let me know! Also, I looked up phi on Wikipedia. You are a dork :) “  “The best one ;) ! Good night!”  I realized I was still smiling five minutes later when I looked into the mirror to take off my contacts.  The stereotypes about hegemonic femininity have been instilled and re-instilled in your head so much that it is the normal now. A woman with a petite figure and long, wavy is hair is considered more attractive than a chubby woman with butch hair. Well, I don’t have a problem with most of these “qualities” or “features” that determine my femininity or my attractiveness in general. However, shaving your legs is the single most arduous task in life. I guess if I was going through that effort to shave my legs, I did like him enough.  I got to Toro (South Boston) about fifteen minutes later than the scheduled time to find Stephen waiting for me. He was wearing a Brooks Brothers’ polo and a pair of J Crew trousers. He looked even better in daylight without lights flashing on his face.  “Are you alright? You seem dazed”, he asked me as he offered to take my coat.  “Ah, I was just distracted by the shiny watch that your rich dad bought you”. I smiled at him, but made a mental note to tone down my sassiness.  “Says the girl with a Kate Spade, eh?” He seemed proud about his knowledge of women’s handbags.  We talked more about each other as I sipped on my ice tea – partly interested in Stephen’s fifth grade Christmas story, and partly conscious about what he was thinking of me.  “So, how did you hear about insertcollegenamehere?”  I cannot be the only one that has gotten this question from every single white person in the US. After a brief introduction, it is always either “Pardon my ignorance, but where is Nepal?”, or “Oh wow! That’s so cool”, or “Have you climbed Mt. Everest?”, or the obvious “How did you hear about this college?”  “Well, there is this thing called the internet, you know, it’s pretty cool, you should check it out sometime!” Considering how much his geography classes in his private school had failed him, I bet he would have believed me if I told him about my sad days in a paddy farm and how an American INGO brought me here.  “Is that where you get this sass from?” he asked, as he sipped on his remaining beer.  “No, that one is in the genes! You should meet my mom. Do you want me to call her? She would love to talk to you!”  I am sure he was slightly freaked out as I grabbed my phone to check the time.  After fifteen minutes of small talk and another fifteen of complaining about the lousy service, our food arrived.  There was an awkward silence for about ten minutes as we devoured our food.  “I had a lot of fun today! We should meet up again!” “For sure, just shoot me a text, and we can figure something out.”  “I have to be honest with you, I haven’t ever dated an ethnic girl before”, he looked as if he had gotten an enormous weight off his chest. “Haha, don’t worry, we are no different than ethnic guys”, I tried to lighten the moment albeit I was still weirded out by the term “ethnic”.  He walked me to my car and gave me a hug after he handed me my coat.  As I blasted Adele’s “Set Fire to the Rain” in my stereo and drove home, I felt a little giddy. I had just gone on a date with a white guy. At first I felt like an iconoclast - going against the norms and culture of my society, but there was a larger part of me who could not resist Stephen. His eyes, his abs, the way he smiled when I made a joke, the way he patted me on my back after we hugged and bid farewell, the look on his face when I fed him some bullshit information about home… The first date went fine, I’d say a B+. I would have given him an A if he had pulled my chair and brought me flowers, but I don’t know if they make guys like those anymore. To be Continued...  Last edited: 18-Nov-12 07:09 PM Last edited: 18-Nov-12 07:09 PM