77.1

My friends organized a carnival-themed birthday outing which included me challenging guys to activities such as carthweels, balancing spoons on noses, and duets. Each challenge was written on a raffle ticket that also had my phone number on it in case I thought any of the gentlemen worthy. Seventy-seven enthusiastically sang "Build Me Up Buttercup" with me on the sidewalk and then texted me a week later. After a few text messages we established that when we sang together he was waiting for a Tinder date that was two hours late and that he was sitting there thinking about other stuff he could have been doing. I told him that was a shame because he could have been hanging out with me, and that it wasn't too late. We made plans for a date the next week.

We met at a way too loud and crowded sports bar that I chose because it had arcade games like pinball and skee ball. We still managed to talk, and I learned that Seventy-seven is well-traveled and speaks four languages. While I wasn't falling head over heels for him by an means, I enjoyed talking about travels with him. An hour later as we walked around we passed a pottery place where he had taken a class. He told me he had made a container with a lid and that he should really put something in it; then after a few seconds he said, "Actually it's the perfect size for condoms for my bedside table." I reacted with a blank stare and said, "Yeah, you could do that" as I thought "Well, that's a weird thing to say on a first date." A while later he pointed at a building down the block. I told him I'd never heard of it and didn't know what it was. Too which he replied, "My ex-girlfriend and I went there. It's a sex club and we were looking for someone to join us." Again, I reacted with a blank stare and said, "Oh" and thought, "Well, I'm done here."

I hugged him goodbye shortly after as he went to catch his train and I met up with some friends. A few days later he messaged me that he enjoyed our date and asked how the rest of my night was. I decided to call it quits on this one and avoid commenting on our date and simply replied that it was good catching up with my friends over a comically horrible game of pool. It's been a week and there haven't been any other communication, and I'm good with that.