Date #7 - Eli

I started off not getting the vibe from this guy.  He winks on match, I look at his pictures and profile and think he's not bad, and so I wink back.  He then sends me an email with the bare minimum of, "Hi, I want to talk to you.  ###-###-####.  Hope your weekend was good.  Eli  ;)"

He seems like he can write just fine from his profile, yet this abrupt, short email doesn't make sense to me.  So whatever, I mirror it back and give him a super short email with my number as well.  He calls to see what I'm doing and I say I'm at work and we can meet afterwards if he's up for it.  He is, and texts back to confirm if we're still on.  I proceed to text back:

Me: Local Starbucks or Coffee Bean?

Eli: That's fine unless you want to get something stronger than coffee?  They have all the options at Hermosa Pier.

This is TUESDAY night.  I thought it was weird he asked me if I wanted a drink.  This is our first date!  wtf!  I push back our date to Thursday, which was earlier this evening.  We met at the Starbucks in El Segundo Plaza.

He's much better looking in real life.  Very cute.  Pretty blue (green?) eyes.  And although we were first a bit awkward in the conversation, it quickly got very comfortable.  Again, I'll list some pros and cons here, for easy reading:

Pros:

• There was a physical attraction.  I could tell he was actually interested in me and I was interested back.  He was tall and slim and cute to boot.
• He reads a lot.  He's able to discuss his reads.  We went to Borders after our coffee and I even picked up a book he recommended.
• He seems to be pretty intelligent.  He is able to think for himself and has an opinion.
• He likes fish!  Hahahaha, not really a pro, but it was cute to see him talk about his fish and how he likes his fish.  He owns 3 huge fish tanks with various fishies.
• He has intense eyes.  When a conversation would end he would hold my gaze until I had to turn away.  I get shy!!
• He walked me to my car when it was time to go home.

Cons

• A little too soft-spoken.  Maybe it was because it was our first date?  He's on the quieter side, but I would him get animated once in a while.
• He's not particularly funny.  Not that that's a prerequisite, but I do appreciate very much a man with an excellent sense of humor.  I laugh at everything, but I like men that make me LAUGH laugh because of their wit and comedic timing.
• He lives with a roommate.  Not a huge detractor, but still, I like men who live alone.  :)

But I think I would like to see him again.  After Starbucks, he asked if I'd like to walk around a bit so we went to Borders and picked up a Kurt Vonnegut book.  And as we walked out he then playfully bulldozed me into the next store, PetSmart.  We browsed the fish aisle as he told me more fish knowledge.

And finally he walked me to my car.  He then gave me a hug (yes, he gave me a hug) and looked me in the eye with a serious look and said, "I would really like to see you again."  He would be out of town for the holidays to visit his family in Kentucky but would be back in a week.  I said yes, I would like to see you again too.

I think my first impressions may be erroneous.  I kinda like this guy, and he doesn't seem like an asshole either.  I should actually not trust my first instinct, because I've done this before with coworkers but it ends up we become best buddies.  So yeah, it seems I might have sized up Eli all wrong.  We'll see how the 2nd outing goes.

Oh boy, so it looks like I'm going to have a 2nd date!  I have a feeling that I'm going to be having more 2nd dates with other men I'm talking to on match... this is starting to become difficult.  What if I have a connection with all of them?  Jesus H. Christ, that would be unmanageable and also my heart couldn't take it...