Author: angosturastirrer

A couple of years ago, I was seeing a girl named Steph. Steph was what I think of as a “design girl.” She was interested in fashion, loved modern art and exposed brick apartments. Born wearing Warby Parkers. Unfortunately I find all of these qualities terribly attractive, and we had fun going to interesting arty places in the city.

One of these places was a maker’s fair put on by the modern art museum. It was a gathering of independent artists selling jewelry, t-shirts, handbags, etc. Steph loved handmade jewelry and so this was right up her alley. We met there after work, bought cocktails at the ticket desk and milled around the gallery of vendors. We talked about the various products and pointed out our favorites, strolling around holding hands. We’d only been dating a month or so, and we were very much infatuated with each other. Read more »

I had met Steph two weeks before. She was short, maybe 5’2″, and a bundle of warmth and energy. Her father was from Japan and her mother was half-Chinese, and she had beautiful golden skin that was smooth and warm. She was 22, I was 25 and we’d gone on two dates at this point. Ice cream and a long walk through a park, and then dinner and a drink.

Steph was very bubbly and very smart and it immediately felt easy to be together; we could spend hours walking and talking and laughing and not feel it pass by. She was interested in design and had a very cool sense of style and I admired that about her; she could speak at length about architecture and fashion and other things I know little about but liked learning.

We had fooled around a bit on our second date but could both feel a tense excitement going into our third, the nervous giddiness you feel when you’re about to be with someone you’re really attracted to for the first time. My parents were on vacation for a week and I was housesitting so we planned to buy groceries and wine and cook dinner and watch a movie there. Read more »