31. Too Much Too Soon
I met him at his place and we watched The Italian Job in his sister’s basement, where he was staying.
After the movie, he asked if I was hungry so we drove to Denny’s. It was 1 AM so I was surprised when his friends showed up like they’d been invited.
“So this is the guy you’ve been telling us about,” one of them said. I thought it was a joke, but then they mentioned a few things we’d discussed like where I worked, what area I lived in. I was pretty uncomfortable: I was still closeted and this was probably my first formal date. He’d mentioned earlier that he talked about our date with his sister, but she sounded like his confidant so that seemed normal. But why was he talking me up to his friends? We hadn’t chatted online for more than a few days. They made a few other comments about us seeming cute together that made me uncomfortable, but we finished the coffee & cigarette “meal” and headed back to his place.
It was about 3 AM at that point. He pointed out a picture of a kid on the wall and said it was his kid. He started talking about how the mom had custody but he relished the visitation days they had together. I wasn’t sure about the whole thing; telling his friends about me, sharing private info, making them part of the date, and now a single dad?
That’s when he mentioned that he’d already told his son about me and him dating. He’d even shown his son my photo. That’s when I panicked and left. I told him, “too much too soon.”
In retrospect, he was a really nice guy. I was mostly freaking out because I was still closeted.