Through a friend, I had met a nice guy named Alan on St Patrick’s Day. We had hit it off, he was kinda cute and since we had mutual friends I figured I would give it a shot. We decided to bike Critical Mass, but after running around town late, we missed it. We then headed over to Kuma’s and chatted over a few beers. From there, we headed back to his place and [hidepost]drank with his roommates. It was going well, but the whole time I was looking at him and wondering his age – he seemed to look younger than when I first met him. I am 28 and I don’t want to deal with little boys.

He made a comment on something age-related, and I took it as my cue and asked him outright. He was 23!!!! I almost died. Within 10 minutes, I said I had to go and jumped on my bike. I raced 6 miles across town to meet up with a group of friends at another bar. A friend said she had someone she wanted to set me up with – hey why not?

Phew, I was safe in the hands of peers in my age group with a cold beer in my hand. Over a cigarette outside, my friend filled me in. He was a really nice guy, hard-working, kind of shy and while I might not like him off the bat, I should give him a shot. She was really hammered and I was suspicious – did she basically just tell me he was unattractive?

When we walked back in, she introduced me. He wasn’t my type – he was wearing a flannel, had long hair would have worked in the 90’s but not anymore,  had a good amount of acne scarring and was afraid to make eye contact. But I couldn’t be rude, so I talked with him for awhile. As usual, the conversation inevitably took the “What do you do?” turn. I explained I owned a PR firm and he told me that – get this ladies – he managed a comic book store.

I tried to conceal my shell shock, but all I could think of was the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons. This guy probably hadn’t been laid in years unless you count making sweet sweet love to his mint Marvel comic collection.

I finished my beer and decided to call it a night. Two strikeouts in one night was all I could take!

-Pretty