Sam and I started messaging on March 18th and he was very upfront that he lives in Australia and would be visiting Dallas for the eclipse. It's funny, now that I've met him and spent most of the day with him, in my head I can read his initial messages in his voice and with the inflections he would use.
He'd been very sweet in the messaging and never pushed for anything or gave me the slightest reason to doubt him. Other than, you know, the whole situation. He's coming into town for a few days and wants to meet someone? Sounds like a hookup to me!
He got me to download What's App (but again, never pressuring me or anything) and we had a few phone chats while one or both of us was on a long drive. Our first phone call put me a bit more at ease. He seemed genuine enough that hookups and one night stands are not his thing. And, he just wanted to find his someone, and maybe she's in Dallas. He said something to the effect of, "What's a 15 hour flight if I'm meeting a wonderful woman?" I laughed because people in LA hardly want to drive more than an hour for a date, and this hopeless romantic sees the world as his dating pool. One of our calls unintentionally turned into a video call, which was all that more reassuring to see the person on the other side of the app.
Fast forward to me picking him up outside his hotel so we could grab tea & coffee. I still felt there was a 10% chance he wouldn't be there, but I saw him almost instantly and immediately got excited. He hopped in the car with a giant smile on his face and greeted me with a small kiss. We navigated our way to a Starbucks already holding hands. He was such a sweetheart and even though we were completely new to each other, we found an ease with each other quickly. We sat at Starbucks for a bit and talked, and then I proposed we go to the botanic gardens to see the dinosaurs.
We might as well have been a couple for years. We held hands and took selfies and appreciated the flowers and admired the dinosaurs and watched the goats. He got excited to see squirrels (apparently they don't have those Down Under) and I couldn't help touch him. I was so attracted to him and my admiration felt completely reciprocated. When we decided we were done and ready for dinner, we walked back to my car and he mentioned how he noticed we were the only couple holding hands all day - it was sad that more couples weren't affectionate like that. I tried to recall what I had seen that day to ascertain if I agreed or not, but I honestly couldn't remember seeing anyone. There were definitely people around - it was way more crowded than usual even - but my attention had been centered on Sam, and everybody else just kind of faded into the background in my recollection.
He had been given a recommendation for "fageetas" at a Mexican restaurant called Papacito's, so I taught him the correct pronunciation and we shared a fajitas platter and chips and queso. Not knowing what to do but not ready to be done for the day, and trusting him more than one should on first meeting, I invited him back to my hotel.
In my room, he took out of his bag the many gifts from Australia he had brought for me - special sun block and chap stick he wanted me to try, Vegemite and a few different candy bars and whole thing of Tim Tams (my request). He also gave me a beanie for one of the soccer teams he liked. We cuddled and kissed and talked.
I swear he could read my mind. As I was laying on his chest, enjoying idly playing with his chest hair and feeling his body so close to mine and having his arms around me, it suddenly occurred to me how little time we'll have together and just the briefest, slightest wave of sadness rolled over me. I'm certain he couldn't even see my face, but he sensed it before I could even acknowledge it myself. He asked me, "Wait, why the sadness all of a sudden?" I looked at him with the bravest face I could muster but he insisted I tell him what I was thinking. So I did and he reassured me that just meant we really had to enjoy the time we did have together.
We had the same sense of humor, like when he pointed to the description of the continent in the dinosaur age and said, "That's why you like Japan so much, you're Laurasian!" We weg inside jokes - dozens it seemed! We were cracking each other up and teasing each other like we were old friends who had known each other forever.
When it was time, I took him back to his hotel. I went shopping after and was over the moon about my day with him while I perused the store. I texted excitedly with my friend Laura about him, and was just generally in an amazing mood, knowing I would see him again Tuesday before he left Texas.
As I pulled into the parking lot of my hotel, though, there was a guy standing outside that looked strangely like him. I thought my mind was playing tricks on me, seeing him because he was all I could think about, when it was just some other guy with long hair. But no, as I turned my car around - I was so flustered I didn't know if I should park or do another drive-by to get a second look - he started walking towards my car. I got super freaked out, feeling like he was coming to attack me or something. What was he doing here? I just dropped him off a half hour away, there was no reason for him to be back here. I rolled down my window and asked nervously what he was doing here. He had a silly, defeated look about him and then walked to my passenger door. Then I immediately saw - his phone had been left in the door of my car. A second later, he was opening the door and hopped in, grabbing his phone and showing me that he left it. He said he had tried to flag me down at his hotel once he realized, but I didn't see him. Then he talked about how he barely remembered the name of my hotel and the city I was staying in and was able to piece enough of it together to get here, but then couldn't remember my room number, didn't know my surname, and had no way to contact me so he came and saw my car wasn't there so he was just going to wait for about 30 minutes and then leave if I didn't show up. I felt awful, because I knew it meant he was missing his show, which he confirmed when I asked. But he was so upbeat about it, saying maybe it was fate, that he got to see me again for at least the drive back. And asked if I'd drive him back again.
I don't know exactly why, but something about that hit me wrong. Like, I hadn't minded being the chauffer all day, but the fact that he Uber'd to me and now I have to drive him back a second time, and then come all the way back again, I don't know, it annoyed me. But he was here all the way from Sydney, it shouldn't have bothered me. I asked if he wanted to go do something else with me and he said we could go back to my room for a quick half hour but that he did need to get back to his friends after that. So I decided the half hour in the room wasn't really worth it - sounded like more potential for trouble than anything else - so I drove him back.
As I drove, he grasped my hand in his, holding it in his lap, and I admitted I had missed that - when he was gone I had wanted to reach over to the passenger side for him but there had been nobody there. It was true, but I also knew it would make this hopeless romantic melt! He loved it, of course.
At his hotel, before getting out, he really smothered me with affection and said, "You don't know what you're doing to me," and I agreed. I was crazy for him. I sort of wished we could spend more time together. Sort of, hell I wanted him to stay the night! But I didn't want to be selfish or crazy - this was our first day together in person, after all.
We kept in touch for the next few days as he spent time with friends and we both experienced the Total Solar Eclipse in our separate locations. Tuesday couldn't come soon enough but when it did, I was ecstatic to see him as I picked him up from his hotel for our second date.
We first spent some time at my hotel, and since we had talked about how much he liked seeing the F-16's, I have him an F-16 shirt. I also have him a few Japanese treats and Takis I picked up from Five Below because of our conversation about them on Saturday. He had more things for me, too. He was so sweet to think of me while vacationing in the US.
We went to the Dallas Stars hockey game, and once again it felt so natural to do things with him, like we had been a couple forever. I got to teach him how to pronounce the other team's mascot, the Sabres. After the game, he wanted to get Chick-fil-A so we found one still open. He attempted to make a joke about my Alma Mater, but got the school wrong, saying U of A, so the joke backfired on him when I agreed. We both had a great laugh and he swore he'd never make that mistake again. We spent more time at my hotel before I took him back, and while I still kept in my mind that I have reason to be skeptical, it was a very optimistic goodbye, made so much harder because we didn't know when we'd see each other again but glorious in the recognition of how much we clicked after just two dates.
The alignment of the sun, Earth and moon brought us together, and not even the entire world can keep us apart.
