Our First Date
Craig,
Dessa and I had been dating a little over a month when I planned our first Valentines Day together. We had been on a few casual dates but this would be the first all out romantic evening on the town. I had made reservations at a really nice restaurant called the Tenderloin room with the incentive that my parents would pay for half of the meal. They had accrued airline mileage but needed to extend the expiration date for their points by spending money at an airline-affiliated business. I was in a position to help and so I accepted the task of taking my date out for dinner to a restaurant chosen from a list that the airline would acknowledge. While I was at it I purchased tickets to the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. I was confident this evening would be no less than incredible.
My car had been in the shop all week so when I finally got it back the afternoon of our date I took it to get gassed up, washed, and vacuumed. I picked up a half dozen roses and a Hershey’s valentines package of nicely arranged chocolate, got dressed and looking spiffy, then, with arms full of flowers and chocolate headed out to go pick up this beautiful girl that I was so looking forward to spending the evening with.
Dessa,
He looked so handsome all dressed up and so cute trying to carry the flowers and chocolate while opening the door.
Craig,
It felt like prom night and I was a little intimidated by all of her friends there to see us off. She looked great though and soon we were out the door and off to St. Louis together.
I had never been to this restaurant that looked so elegant on the web so honestly I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. It couldn’t have been more perfect. We walked in through glass doors to a romantically lit room with a live pianist playing in the corner. The restaurant had a rich elegantly carved dark wood ceiling, gorgeous carpet, flowers, elderly waiters who took our coats and treated us with the utmost respect and dignity; nothing less than five star. Dessa and I both sat down rather breath taken at how amazing the place was. Dessa was simply wide eyed. “Craig, I’ve never been to a place like this.” To which replied with a smug grin, “Yes, well… I intend to treat you like a queen tonight.” Following our appetizer we indulged ourselves in a fine meal of Filet Minion and New York Sirloin Steak. Awesome.
Dessa,
The food… absolutely amazing. It was so much fun being surrounded by these rich people who were used to being out like that on a regular basis and pretending to be just like them. Believe me though, I don’t think I could ever get used to it. I of course, kept making a mess with the sauce on the nice white tablecloth and cloth napkin (I absolutely love cloth napkins). We had a lot of fun though.
Craig,
The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra was waiting and so after we had finished I asked for the bill with every intention of inquiring as to the airline mileage, etc. However, it suddenly dawned on me that I may not actually have enough money to pay for this meal!! I had just spent a large amount to get my car repaired earlier in the week not to mention the full tank of gas I put in that afternoon. I had just purchased our symphony tickets a few days before, recently paid my cell phone bill, and done some shopping that was long overdue. Adding those estimates up in my head meant that I must have shelled out close to the entire amount in my bank account over the past few days. The backup funds that I was in the process of transferring would not have had time to process yet! Suddenly the airline mileage became the least of my concerns and I simply gave the waiter my card and crossed my fingers. I watched him from across the room as he swiped my card once… then twice… then again. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” I muttered disgusted at my stupidity. I didn’t have a back up either! I thought I had lost my wallet a little while back and had canceled my credit card. Applying for another was just one of those things that I was going to get around to soon. In this very moment I wish that little detail hadn’t been pushed down on the priority list.
The waiter returned to our table and with the proper elegance subtly motioned for me to come closer so that he could inform me of the predicament while avoiding embarrassment that this might cause me while in front of my date. What a gentlemen. Of course, as it was suddenly dawning on me a few minutes earlier, I had been thinking out loud as I described to Dessa what I began to realize. As soon as the waiter came to our table and informed me that my card was denied Dessa and I began to discuss back up plans. She ended up calling a friend back at her house with instructions to find her purse and read off her credit card number. That took several minutes and all the while the humor of the situation began to set in. “Nice one Craig.” I thought to myself, “You can’t pay for this meal and so your date is going to come to your rescue. Rather chivalrous. You might as well ask HER to open the doors for YOU the rest of the night.”
Dessa,
It was so funny to me…I could not stop laughing. I felt bad because I kept laughing, but seriously, it is SO funny!! Craig first tried calling his parents to no avail. So, after many attempts, I finally got a hold of a friend who was home and asked her to get my credit card number… poor Craig had to just sit inside the restaurant while I had to step outside to get reception to make all these phone calls.
Craig,
We got out of there and arrived at the Symphony a good fifteen minutes late which meant that we couldn’t go in quite yet. Once the first piece had concluded they escorted us to our seats and we sat down to enjoy an evening of spectacular music. It was wonderful. Dessa had never been to a Symphony and she loved every bit of it. We were in a light hearted mood after recovering from our little episode at the restaurant but at the same time deeply enjoying the romantic evening together. The music was astounding, she looked amazing and I can’t tell you how much I loved being with her.
Dessa,
It was amazing, seriously. Each piece was like a story and it was neat feeling the music wash over me.
Craig,
She and I sat in our velvet opera house style seats and talked until the entire theater was empty and they began closing up. It was something like 11:00pm but neither of us wanted the night to end. It was well below freezing outside so we drove to downtown St. Louis and found a Starbucks to enjoy desert and hot drinks. We left when they closed and finally got back to Greenville about three in the morning.
Dessa,
It’s funny because there were these times when I really didn’t feel like we are dating. It wasn’t because I didn’t like him, but more that I was so comfortable with him and didn’t feel pressured in ways people say they do when they are dating. You know…you watch these movies and see other couples and they talk about how awkward and nerve racking it can be… but it was never any of that. Our first Valentines Day together was absolutely perfect. It was an amazing night and of course, there was our adventure of figuring out how to pay for our meal. It only made it that much more perfect actually. He treated me like a queen and I definitely was living in high style.
