Date & Dish

I went out with the Engineer on Saturday after much ambiguous communication.  We had started emailing each other last week and had moved on to rather lengthy IM sessions in the evening hours.  The Engineer is originally from Virginia and had recently moved to Atlanta after studying at the Savannah College of Art in historic preservation.  We discovered that we had a lot of in common, including our love of modern architecture, design and furniture.  It’s not often you can discuss these things with someone and then send each other links from ebay for furniture that you’re drooling over. 

The Engineer had suggested that we meet up on Saturday to do a loft tour that promised to be tons of fun, but I had already made plans to go hiking, so I suggested we meet up in the evening.  He gave me the old “I’ll probably be up for something” response, which was rather uncommital from my POV, but ok. 

Given our lengthy IM conversations and emails, I have to admit that I was really eager to meet this guy.  But he hadn’t asked for my number or anything, so I wasn’t sure what was going on.  So I wrote him an email and directly asked him if he wanted to talk on the phone, to which he said “sure” and so we exchanged numbers. 

Prior to my leaving on my hike Saturday morning, he sent me an IM, wishing me a nice time and saying he’d call.  Given his ambivalence about asking for my number, I wasn’t banking on it.  But while I was hiking (with no phone of course), he called twice, telling me about the loft tour.  So I rang him back on the way home and we made plans to get together for dinner and then a party.  He picked me up and we instantly hit it off.  Somehow, our conversation veered to whether it’s better to have bad sex or no sex almost immediately. I have no idea how we got on that topic, but it was pretty funny.  We had a good dinner and then went to a loft party where he met a friend of mine.  Again, he was very social and fun and all flowed well.

But he wasn’t the least bit flirty.  Not at all what I’m used to.  After the party, we walked around the neighborhood talking about buildings and looking into the windows of cool design stores.  And then he took me home.  On the way back he said he had a wonderful time and looked forward to doing cool stuff around town.  He gave me a hug and said, “well let me know when there’s something fun going on around town.” To which I replied, “Sure.  Don’t be a stranger and give me a call.”  He then replied, “You don’t even have to worry about that.”

So Sunday night, he contacts me again via IM and we spend 2 hours chatting.  No flirting.  Nada.  He brought up a future concert that’s happening and said, “we should get  a group together and go”.  Hmmm…. nothing along the lines of “I’d like to see you.”  So it makes me wonder if he’s into dating me at all, or whether he’s really just happy to have made a new friend.  Thoughts?