Forty-nine

Instead of hobbling around waiting for the speed dating event to start, I decided to sit at one of the benches near the door until it began.  Forty-nine walked in and looked around, so trying to be helpful I asked, "Are you here for the speed dating?" "Excuse me?"  "Speed dating, is that why you're here?" "Is that what's happening?  I wondered why it was so crowded.  No, I'm not...are you?"  "Yeah I am, it's going to be great.  You should sign up."  He said that he was just waiting for a friend, so while we both waited we made small talk and declared it my warm-up for the evening.  He asked me the concept of speed dating and if I'd ever been before.  I told him it was my first time and that the conversations were 7-10 minutes.  He decided that 7-10 minutes was too much time, and that 6-minute dates would be sufficient.  Forty-nine told me he couldn't be bothered anyway because he was moving to LA in two weeks for a new job, but that he and his friend would enjoy watching the awkwardness of the evening. When I was called over for the first round of dates, I told him good luck with his move and new job and he told me good luck with my dates.  The end.  Pleasant conversation with a nice man who is moving, but I was on my way to meet 22 new guys.

Halfway through the evening on about date fifteen, Forty-nine walks over to the corner where I was sitting, hands me a coaster, and says, "It was nice meeting you, I hope you have a great time tonight" and walked away.  I could feel my face turn bright red and the guy that was sitting in front of me just stopped talking for a second and then recovered by awkwardly saying, "Well, you seem to be doing all right."  I apologized and told him I couldn't explain what just happened.  On the inside I was just smiling and giggling from that unexpected event.

The next morning I started a fun text exchange with Forty-nine.

Me: You officially get five gold stars for the number delivery.  It definitely made the guy stop in his tracks and made me blush. Fantastic.

49: I didn't mean to bust up the party, but I was leaving.  I apologize for the number on the coaster; it seemed pretty cliche but all they had at the bar were black napkins and black pens and it all seemed a bit too goth.

Me: Are you kidding, that's my favorite story of the night.

49: How was the night overall? Do you think that my idea of 6-minute dating would catch on?

Me: I really enjoyed it because I love talking to strangers.  I think your 6-minute date idea would revolutionize the dating world. I could probably spare 6 minutes this evening if you wanted to test out your idea.

49: My idea is still in the prototype stage, but maybe it's time to bring it live.

Then we made date plans.  So yeah, I went speed dating and got the number of a guy who wasn't even there for the event.  I'll take it.