Robert and I had plans to go to a party, but when the party was cancelled at the last minute, we decided to grab dinner instead.

Until now, every time we’d been together outside of work– it was a group thing (church, hanging out with his little cousins, drinks with my friends from out of town etc.). This would be our first time hanging out alone, our first time having dinner together. Maybe tonight I could figure out what his angle was. Did he see me as a friend? or perhaps something more….

We talked easily over dinner and every so often we’d have these moments where we’d just look at each other and laugh for no reason (…this felt like a date).

Then he told me some story about being at a wedding and flirting with a bridesmaid (… not a date).

Later in the night, he got a little more serious when he asked.

“So, what’s going on with you and that guy we ran into?”

It took me a moment to realize he was talking about Jeremy. Augh! Was he trying to give me dating advice? If so, he’s definitely moved us into “not a date” territory.

“What do you mean?” I asked, as calmly as I could.

“Are you two dating?”

Something in the way he asked the question made me realize he wasn’t trying to give me advice, he wanted to know… perhaps for his own benefit?

“No, we’re not,” I said.

We talked about that day and why Jeremy was acting the way he did… I explained that if something was going to happen between Jeremy and me, it would have happened a long time ago…. Robert said that Jeremy seemed really upset that I “stood him up” for dinner (I just shrugged)… I accidentally mentioned that my sister Denise wasn’t a huge fan of Jeremy’s and that her opinion was important, to which he replied “good to know”(… date!).

When the check came, he took it and paid for dinner. As we walked to the train we talked about the next time we could hang out, I gave him permission to plan something.

So… we’ll see what he comes up with.