Mis-reading the Signals

I never professed to be the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to reading the "interested" signals from other guys. In fact, I can be rather oblivious. I get pretty focused on something, and I can ignore the five-alarm fire happening around me. Or quite the opposite. I'll play the role of schoolgirl thinking the guy is in love with me when he's just being nice.

For example, once upon a time Virginia and I had a night out. We went downtown for dinner and then out to shoot pool. We chose an Italian place in Nashville that wasn't necessarily known for great food, but it was cheap, and the atmosphere was mostly French bordello. Imagine Moulin Rouge meets Olive Garden. And there was a manager there, Tyler, that I had had a brief encounter a couple of years earlier. He was always super-nice and friendly to me and Virginia.

Virginia and I ordered dinner, and Tyler stopped by periodically to chat and being friendly. When he walked away, Virginia and I schemed and debated if he was interested in me. Of course when the server drops the check off, I think the decision has been made. It's rather loud in the restaurant and I hear "taken care of."

I checked with Virginia and she heard the same thing. Well, how nice of Tyler, we decided. I sought out Tyler to thank hm for his generosity, and of course, to ask if he might be interested in dinner on me sometime. Our conversation went something like this.

"Tyler, I want to thank you for picking that up for us. You really didn't have to do that. We really really really appreciate it."

"Oh please, it was nothing."

"Oh Tyler that's not true." Can you hear me turning on the charm? "It was very generous of you."

"Please, it was just cheese bread, so think nothing of it."

Cheese bread? Just the cheese bread? I returned to the table, and Virginia was waiting to hear with bated breath.

"Well...??"

"I was terribly effusive for cheese bread."

I didn't ask him out, by the way.