The Dating Experiment

Chapter Ten - A Soccer Team of Children

I was up all night trying to figure out what to get August for his first gift. The date part was actually easy, because I just picked something that people, in general, tended to really like. I know! I judged a guy for that easlier on. I'm a hypocrite, okay? But seriously, who doesn't like mini golf? (If it's you, shame on you... kidding! Sort of.)

I finally decided to get him chocolate. Guys always get girls chocolate, but who's to say men don't want it too? I even got him Dove brand chocolate, because, in my humble opinion, they make the very best! It's so smooth and creamy.

#getyourshittogetherotherchocolatecompanies. #sorrynotsorry.

Anyway, we were going to get tacos for lunch. There was this taco truck that always parked in various places around town, all depending on what day of the week it was, and that Friday it happened to be relatively close to the mini-golf park. I did hope he liked tacos. That seemed like another general thing you'd have to be weird not to like. He had to like tacos.

I met up with August once I stepped off the bus. He was wearing a dark red button down with the sleeves rolled up. Why did guys always look so much more attractive with their sleeves rolled up? Doesn't matter who he is. He rolls up the sleeves of his collared oxford shirt and BAM! Hot. I wondered, briefly, if there was something that women could do that would have the same effect. What if we rolled our shirtsleeves up? Guys, can women achieve this level of instant hot as well? Asking for a friend...

"Hey, you!"

He waved as I walked up to the mini-golf park. It was a sunny and warm day, so there were a good number of people already there, scattered about the holes. August signed us in. I picked a pink ball. He picked one the color of a yellow highlighter. You know, the super bright would-hurt-your-eyes-if-there-was-too-much-of-it yellow. Then we headed to hole one.

I should have considered the fact that I sucked at mini golf before picking this place. It took me ten shots to get it into hole one! In fact, another group came in after us and I sort of held them up. August did good, though. He got it in two, which was par.

"I think you just need to readjust some more," he said, coming up behind me.

He did the thing that guys do, where they stand behind you, wrap their arms around you, and guide your swing by holding on to your hands. Except he did it more awkwardly, because the animal heads were sort of getting in the way. I actually blamed them for my lack of ability. Couldn't see properly. That was all.

"You just did that so you could violate my personal space," I replied with a laugh.

"Oh, come on. You can't tell me you didn't have that classic move in mind when you picked this activity."

"I did not. Honestly."

(Honestly!)

I did better on hole two.

"See? I helped!"

He seemed so genuinely happy that I couldn't not smile.

"You may be right about that. Maybe you should consider helping me again. Then I might get a hole in one."

He chuckled lightly.

"I don't know about that. I wouldn't want to make you better than me."

"Ha! Right!"

We continued playing and, for the rest of the holes, I didn't do nearly as bad as the first one. There was some water on hole eight that tripped me up, but that one only took four shots. There was also this really cool cave-like structure that we had to go into for one hole, and it got my feet all wet, but it was still fun.