It was a scorching hot Austin summer day. I spent the morning biking around town, eating lunch and drinking
Hefeweizen on a dive bar patio deck and strolling the downtown streets with my buddy Kelly.
Then, in the afternoon, I went to my friend Ashley's out of control apartment complex, where a typical Saturday consists of free poolside hot dogs and margaritas for residents and guests. No. Joke. Her pool is one of those sprawling types, with fountains and waterfalls and good looking people everywhere. It was Spring Break '08, except it was July 19. We lounged around and got a lot of sun.
Then, I went home and realized it was early, and I had not a care in the world...nor a plan...for the evening. I didn't have to work the next day, and I had just gotten paid a couple days prior. So, I called up co-worker J.J. and said we were going out downtown to celebrate being young and having money (until we had to write our rent checks and pay our bills...you know, reality).
So, J.J., another co-worker, Chris (
Crod), and I painted the town red. While at our fall back/always the Plan B/guaranteed good time bar, I decided to take a stroll around the bar and ran into another co-worker. While chatting with him, I noticed a group of tall guys. I had enough courage to approach them and, "Y'all aren't from here..." is the line that fell out of my mouth.
Hmm...why did I decide to say that? I couldn't come up with anything better? The moment I said it, I wished I could take it back...but, I couldn't...and I was stuck explaining to these guys why I thought they looked like they were from Dallas and not Austin. Wow. I talked in circles. But, an hour passed, and I was still talking to them.
To make a long story short, this group had seen me earlier...right when they walked in. You see, I was showing J.J. and
Crod how Cougars dance. No, not
Wazzu Cougs, but, you know,
Cooougars. The tall guys told me they saw me dancing, and I started laughing knowing that I was mock-dancing, and immediately I was embarrassed. Coincidentally, as if on queue...as if scripted, two Cougars came walking in and stood a few paces behind me. "Show them how it's done, Kate...
c'mon!" Yeaaah...riiight...like hell I was going to go over to these middle-aged women dressed like teeny-
boppers. So, I flipped this comment around and dared the guys to go dance with the women.
Instead, one of the guys grabbed my hand, whisked me off my feet and showed me the best Texas two-step/country swing dancing skills I've ever witnessed. My smile couldn't have been any bigger. I'm not sure if I've ever grinned as big as I did that night when we were dancing.
Prior to the dancing showdown, "the" guy and I were chatting about all sorts of things ... I found out he grew up on a ranch, is a
bonafide cowboy (in high school he "played" football, basketball and ... RODEO!) and much, much more. I mentioned that I played basketball and he got my number so we could play. Not that exciting in my mind. I've given my number to many guys for this reason, and most of the time they call and we go play basketball ... and that's it. Maybe it's the fact that I can't be flirty and brush my competitiveness to the side when playing basketball ... and it's not really the "Love and Basketball" fantasy they hoped for.
I'm finally completing this post months after meeting the guy, so I can't recall all of the exact details, but I will say that he did call and ask to meet at the park for a game of hoops and then a bite to eat after. I almost called to cancel that first date. I had a terrible day leading up to it ... full of car issues, work issues ... and my bike even broke down on the way to the park! But, I made it, and I must say he wasn't half bad at hoops! After several games of 21 and a great dinner I knew we'd be seeing each other again.
My co-worker J.J. and I decided to challenge each other. It was a photo finish. Lots of laughs.
Accepting my crystal award and celebrating the night away.
