First job out of college (part 11)

For the first time I could remember, I saw a lot of Asian girls there. I showed up right after work so I was dressed in my office clothing along with a tie so I was feeling quite confident about myself. After a few beers, I was talking to all the girls there and introducing myself to everyone at the party. About 90 percent of the people there were complete strangers to me but I didn’t care. All I had to do was ask them how they knew my friend Ting. I enjoyed myself, I was cracking jokes with strangers, talking about work and life. I got to talk with three or four pretty girls there and I didn’t care about any sort of impression I left because I would never see these people again. That night, I went home and forgot all about the party. I didn’t regret going.

The next day, I was checking my emails and noticed I received a friend request from a girl at the homecoming party. Her name was Julia. I accepted her invite but didn’t think anything of it. Up to that point, when I used social networking websites, I would get friend requests from people who would never want to have a conversation. Most likely, she just added me because she recognized my face. Still, I was curious about her. When we were talking she was very receptive towards me. If she sent me a friend request, what else would she do?

So I sent her a message and asked her what the name of that taco place she was talking about at the party. She gave me the name of the restaurant and said that we should go sometime. Well that was unexpectedly easy. I told her that we would go sometime but never set a date. After a few days, I got a text from her. She went out of her way to ask Ting for my phone number. If she was that receptive, the least I could do was have dinner with her.

I had never taken a girl out to dinner before. Going along for the experience in of itself was worth it. I had one simple objective. Pick up Julia and have a meal with her. Unfortunately, she said she would meet me there so it wouldn’t go exactly how I wanted it. I really didn’t know what her motive was. I knew she already had a boyfriend. I wasn’t expecting to date her or sleep with her. The dinner itself was the end all be all. After it was done, I didn’t have any intention of seeing her or talking to her again. She ordered the fish tacos and I think I got the chicken quesadillas. We started asking each other questions about ourselves and then I learned a few unexpected things about her.