Mr. Y The First Meeting Part 2

Oh What a Night! The nerves, the excitement, the anticipation.

Let me tell you it was … But I’m getting ahead of myself.

As I said we left a few minutes late. Mr. Y had suggested a place in the next city over from us. It’s in a nice part of town with many hotels, and the place is part of the Hilton complex. (Don’t read anything into the fact that it was at a hotel. That area is a tourist area and many restaurants and bars are on hotel property.) We’re coming from the north and will take us about 30 minutes. Mr. Y is coming from the south and will take him about 45 minutes. So we’ll probably get there in time to have a drink to calm the nerves a bit before he gets there.

On our way there we hit the first in a series of almost insignificant but unfortunate events. Nothing that would spoil the evening, thankfully. I’ve been to the Hilton. It is very nice, and I know where it is. Still I put the meeting place in the GPS just to be sure. As I’m driving down the street, I see the Hilton up ahead, but the GPS is telling me the place is farther. That’s when I realized he said it was part of the Holiday Inn complex, not the Hilton. Now I’m a little anxious about the venue. The Holiday Inn is no Hilton. I don’t mention it to Wife.

We pull into the Holiday Inn and park. We find our way to the place. It’s not attached to the hotel, but it is obviously meant mainly for the guests. It is much more casual than we had expected, and there are no tables available. That’s ok. We go up to the bar, except it’s not a bar. It’s a counter where you order drinks; no stools - unfortunate event number 2. I order an AmberBock and Wife gets a whiskey sour. Half way through filling my glass the keg blows. Ok, I’ll have a Shock Top. We find our way to a secluded area and find 3 chairs.

Drinks in hand, we sit down and chat. Surprisingly I’m not nervous. The Shock Top tastes good and goes down smooth. Wife seems (mostly) calm too. Every few minutes I get up a check for Mr. Y, since he is unlikely to find us easily in our secluded area. If he left when he said he would, he should be here, but it is still 15 minutes before our stated start time of 8:00. We finish the first round and I go get another. The keg’s been replaced and I get my AmberBock. (The Shock Top was better, but I’m driving and the darker beer is better if it warms since I have to drink it slow.) Unfortunately (number 3) Wife spills a little of her drink on her satin shirt and it stains.

Unfortunate event number 4: It’s karaoke night. Not only that, this is a family place and it seems that it is teen karaoke night. Really it was a mix of adults and kids performing. Some of the performers are good, a few quite good, but many, many more were not. They weren’t drunk enough to be up there and we weren’t drunk enough to listen to them.

Quarter after 8 and no Mr. Y. We discuss going to a club if we are stood up. I call him and find that there was an accident on the bridge into town from his direction. (Number 5). But he is past it and will be here in 5 to 10 minutes. Wife makes her way to the bar counter for another, I’m still nursing mine. On her way back, she walks right past him. Did she know it was him? I don’t know. I snicker. I know it’s mean, but I let him approach a few couples that vaguely match our description. After a couple of minutes, I call him over. …