KISS

First dates can be uncomfortable and nerve wracking, or at the very least, boring. Sometimes, however, they can be easy as hanging out with your new best friend. That's pretty much what happened on Aaron's and my first date.

It was a Friday night. I was hanging out at home and had just gotten off the phone with my friend. We had planned to go out for drinks that evening, but she wasn't feeling well and had to cancel at the last minute.

Aaron and I had a lot of mutual friends and we had been emailing a lot about getting together to do something. We couldn't seem to find a time that worked out, though, so we hadn't actually gone out - just the two of us. So, as luck would have it, Aaron called me that same Friday evening to invite me out to see a friend's KISS cover band. I casually accepted, but mentioned that I had originally had plans, but they sort of fell through at the last minute. I didn't want to seem like a loser at home on a Friday night.

I quickly changed out of my grey sweats and my Nicaragua Is Not Our Enemy t-shirt and threw on my emergency-no-thought-required outfit that consists of my favorite jeans, black shirt, wool 3/4 length coat, and patent leather boots.

We met at a bar called the Rosebud on Capitol Hill. We had a couple warm up drinks and both ordered vodka tonics ("We're so similar!", I thought to myself.) and chatted. Aaron had just gotten a hair cut, so I complimented him on it. He used to have straight chin length hair. His new hair was sort of layered and razor cut on the ends for a messy stylish effect. We talked quite a bit and the conversation flowed freely. A good sign. He also mentioned that he was wearing a KISS belt buckle and showed it to me. It said "KISS" and had a hologram background like stickers from the 80s. I thought it was pretty cool.

After a bit, we ambled up to what used to be the Breakroom, but is now Chop Suey. When we got there, the band was already onstage and belting out their rendition of "Dr. Love", in full KISS costumes. It was priceless. A bunch of our friends were there and so we joined them so that we could rock and roll all night and party every day.

After KISS finished, we hung out for a while with our friends. Aaron ordered some cheese fries and by this point, I knew we were a good match. We both liked all the sames things!

It had gotten to be pretty late, so we headed out to the street. Aaron offered to drive me to my car (which was parked further away), and I almost blurted that I could walk, but stopped myself just in time. So I hopped into the Sable, which was a fine piece of automotive machinery. (It was actually the Sable that sealed the deal. What girl can resist a sweet ride like that?) We rolled up to where my car was parked and paused with the motor humming. I told him that I'd had a really good night, and leaned over to hug him. I paused for a second, and then gave him a quick peck.

That was a crisp evening in November of 2001, my friends...and the rest is history.