RudeDude actually hadn't given his name in the chat and hadn't even asked for mine, which was kind of surprising because my username on that doesn't have my name in it whatsoever. Either way I was on my way to the Thai restaurant when I got a message from him on OkCupid saying that he had arrived and he asked if he should grab us a table. Mind you he was ten minutes early to the place and I was still stuck in traffic so I told him to go ahead and grab a table. I didn't know if the place was going to be super busy and didn't want to arrive only to have to wait around even more.
When I arrived at the Thai restaurant I looked around but didn't see a guy seated by himself. I walked up to the server at the front table and she asked, "Oh! Are you here looking for the gentleman?" I just smiled and said, "Yes, I am." She pointed over to the next room and told me he was in there. I entered the room but all I saw were a bunch of families so I became super confused. Turns out RudeDude was to my right with his head down and he was looking as his phone.
"RudeDude?" I questioned as I looked at him, because I didn't know his name so what else was I supposed to call him? I don't think "Random Guy From OkCupid" would have gone over very well. RudeDude looked up and said, "Oh, hey!" and so we kind of met. He put away his phone as I sat down and I ended up being the one to ask, "Hey, so what's your name?" He told me it was Rick and then there was silence. I mean total silence, He didn't ask my name, which I found super weird. I mean, when you meet someone you ask their name right? Or was he going to call me by my username for the entirety of our lunch? Who knows right?
After waiting for a bit I finally said, "I'm Marie, it's nice to meet you." Rick just smiled and nodded at that. I became so confused because why was Rick acting like this? I mean, sure we hadn't conversed much on the OkCupid app but I didn't think that would mean he wouldn't talk to me at all in person! Well it was then that I noticed he was shaking. Like, his hands were physically shaking so it became obvious that Rick was nervous! I mean, I know it can be nervous meeting up with someone for the first time because everyone gets those jitters but that helped connect the dots for why he wasn't very chatty. He was so nervous and was probably doing his best to just sit there and pay attention.
We ordered our lunch after looking at the menu and making small talk. Rick is new to Vegas and just moved from California. He works out on the Air Force Base in intelligence which means he can't talk a whole lot about work, which is fine. I get how that goes because I have some family friends who work for the government and they can't say a word about it. One jokes that they work for McDonald's tending the cows because why not?
Rick slowly started to regain his composure and stopped shaking so the nerves were going away. We talked about what we did for work a bit more before telling fun traveling stories. He hasn't been out of the country yet even though he was in the military but he wants to travel the Europe and head to a lot of different places all over the world. He's been around to a few places in the U.S. on road trips and such so those were fun stories to hear.
I'm just glad that he was able to hold a conversation and keep eye contact with me while talking. The conversation just rolled from one topic to the next one which made things easy. Don't get me wrong there were some lulls but we were able to bounce back and keep it going. It wasn't like there weren't any stories to talk about or share.
Somehow two hours passed by and we finally had finished eating and the conversation was slowing a bit due to the fact that we had been there so long. Rick paid for the meal and we made our way outside. I wasn't quite sure if he would want a hug, considering a lot of the guys I've met up with before were all about getting a hug as if that was some sort of accomplishment, but he just sort of stood there outside for a moment. I then wondered if he was going to ask for a number but that didn't seem to be happening either.
Whether or not he wanted my number was up to him of course because I wasn't going to ask for his. Call me old fashioned but that's just how I am. I feel like the guy needs to make the first move for that sort of thing. So I figured he just wasn't interested and I had thanked him for the meal so there wasn't much more that needed to be said. Before I could walk away though Rick finally asked if we could exchange numbers and we did just that. He mentioned hiking and I said Red Rock was a great place to go. I told him to text me if he'd be interested in going sometime and we left it at that.
Now it's time for the waiting game of if he'll actually text me and from there will he want to do something or just become a ghost. I'll keep you all posted either way so don't worry. What do you all think?
A funny little side note about this meetup is that I told my best friend where I was going to be because why wouldn't I do that? Meeting strangers from the internet is dangerous! She texted me during the lunch but my phone was in my purse so I didn't know I had a text nor did I have the chance to text her back. It was only after I got in my car that I texted her back saying I was alive and well but what's funny is she was legit all ready on her way to the Thai place ready to come busting through the doors to save me and figure out what was wrong. True friendship, right? (: