and then he called me the "g" word

i already knew i liked him. somehow in the course of three or four dates, i went from thinking he's was an interesting and likeable guy to knowing that i really, really liked him. i liked the way his eyes danced when he was telling a funny story or how he pursed his lips together when he was thinking. i liked the way he would gently touch my back when he came up behind me and how he'd caress my knee when we were driving places in his car. i also knew that many women (and sometimes even i) hate these gestures, the feeling that you are property, being owned, that he was branding you a bit with his touch. i'd done it before, shied away from any public physical contact, hated that others felt it was their right to touch me in public as if i were just that, a piece of property. with him it was different, i longed for that touch and when moments or hours went by without it, i craved it, wanted more of it, couldn't get enough of it.



i also liked that he made me laugh almost as often as he made me think; how we could have a heated discussion in one moment and then be laughing so hard that i had tears streaming down my face in the next. he had style and i'd always enjoyed dating men who had style (of any kind). i loved that we could be sitting amongst a crowd of people and i'd forget that there was anyone there besides us - we'd start chatting about something and the distinct objects and people around us would suddenly fade and become blurry.



i found it charming how he always seemed like he had to work up his courage to ask me to do anything in the future, even after we'd been dating awhile, as if he was concerned that i might say no. and when asked about it, he told me that women had had a problem with it in the past, saying he was trying to control the relationship. maybe i'd see it that way at some point in the future, but in that moment i loved that he took control always dreaming up some great adventure for us to take.



and it was on one of those great adventures that it happened, the "g" word. he'd called me his girlfriend, not just his girlfriend though his "smokin' hot girlfriend" which i suppose was completely fitting seeing as how we were huddled around a fire that later caught my shoe on fire. i hadn't been anyone's anything for a very long time and while the title (and all that may or may not go along with it) kind of scared me, i also thought it might fit. so i decided to try it on for size, wear it around for awhile, see where it took me. and secretly hoped (with all of my girly hopes) that it would take me somewhere good.

i'd have to wait to see where we'd land....


(to be continued)