by Jane Ward

Created on: November 04, 2010

Last night was an experiment with form if I even saw one.  A deconstructed dinner.  I mean, on the one hand it was fairly normal.  He’s a guy my age give or take a couple of years.  We were catching up, telling stories, getting to know each other- (arguably getting to know each other again, but let’s face it, more like for the first time) but the whole evening felt a little bit like an episode of How I Met Your Mother.  Connor and I have no idea who each other are, what we do for a living, whether we enjoyed college, what movies we like, who our friends are and what we do when we spend time with them, but Kyle knows the one thing about me that usually come out absolute last:  that my dad is absolutely stark raving insane.  And not just your garden variety take two Zoloft and call me in the morning insane, multiple extended stays at the funny farm insane.  I mean, at one point, the man was driving across the country making rather public threats to the life of the President of the United States of America.  Threats that were not taken particularly lightly by the secret service, I might add, as evidenced by the late-night phone call I received from them in my dorm room during my sophomore year of college.  I don’t think my ex-boyfriend even knows that last part.  I don’t think my best friend even knows that last part!  And not even necessarily because it’s a big secret but because…well…that sort of thing just doesn’t come up! You know?

So there I was, eating ravioli at Bertucci’s across the table from Connor Coughlin.  And I’m wondering, Do I have food on my face? Am I talking too much?  Is he talking enough?  Am I interested?  At the end of the night are we gonna do like the ass-out hug?  Will he call?  Is this going to develop into a long-term relationship?  And of what possible use or benefit could that be to either of us?  Why didn’t we just leave well enough alone and stay the virtual strangers that we have been our whole lives?

So there I was eating ravioli at Bertucci’s across the table from Connor Coughlin.  And after we’d played out the sundry uncomfortable fun facts we knew about each other (his parents recently got divorced, our grandmother is dead, he’s diabetic) I realized, he’s just a regular guy.  He went to Washington this past weekend for Jon Stewart’s

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