It’s the longest night of the year and the beginning of another climb towards the summer. I wake with this thought not on my mind. I wake with a list of things that I’m supposed to do. The day is short before my date tonight. 

One would think that I’d speed through all my tasks including my chores but again you’d be mistaken. Normally some clear path presents itself but not on this day. On this day I wanted to relax a bit too. I listened to some new music from the top album lists that populate the web at this time of the year. I made some breakfast and searched my archives for photos that I’d like to print as presents to the ones I love. I found some lapses in my backups and had to search for the originals. I really have to sort my backups out. The whole thing is a mess right now. Sheesh another thing to add to the list 😐

The pictures themselves were good as shot but I wanted to do a bit of adjusting. This fine tuning process is what are up my time today. Towards the end I rushed a little bit. Maybe distracted by messages sent back and forth between my date and myself. I was asked to dress up and channel some of that London flair I picked up. I was happy to oblige. 

The clothes that I’ve acquired have a more tailored fit. It’s been a necessity due to the physical change I’ve undergone over the past three or four years. The west coast here doesn’t like to dress up and if you do you stick out at least that’s what it seems like to me. However I must say that dressing up is kinda fun. Being adorned in fine fabric and patterns an escape from the black enveloping everyone’s bodies at this time of the year. Maybe that’s why I caught some people’s eye. 

There was one more item to take care of to order the prints so in my fine garments I visited a place that would print them out cheap. Along the way seeing a band playing in the park. Wouldn’t you know it there was some sort of a glitch at the location I chose to visit. The computers were frozen and it didn’t seem like anyone was there to help sort it out. I cussed a little and spoke with some others that looked at that screen blankly and it stared right back. I’d have to do this tomorrow and try another place. 

I met my date by the station and we embraced right away and exchanged some heat between us in this cold winter day. We walked the short distance to Q Shi Q restaurant with the tap tap of her heels echoing against the empty expansive streets and buildings surrounding us. Our conversation meandered between praising the food and various topics from our lives. 

“You never tried sake?!”

Here is something that I learned that night that only shit sake is warmed. The good stuff is drunk at room temperature. There is a local maker that prides himself on making this wine as well as possible and thus it doesn’t need to be masked by temperature. My date date and I enjoyed the smooth shots from the carafe. The words slowly became more boisterous. The laughter a bit more loud. 

We were the only ones left in the restaurant. Our stomachs comfortably full and our bodies a bit closer to each other sitting in the corner of a large table. Hands a bit more exploratory a bit more touchy-feely than earlier. It was time to leave and make our way to her abode. The air outside was cold and she held onto my arm for stability as her heels tapped on the pavement marking our pace with their sound. 

We haven’t had a stroll yet and today we meandered to the B-Line stop that would take us where we needed to go. In weather like this any wait seems long but there are other desires that weigh heavy on our minds. We got to the door of her walk up only to discover that she forgot her keys at work. 

I couldn’t believe it. This has been the year of getting locked out. It’s the third significant time that it has happened to me. We both kind of laughed as she frantically called her flatmate to let us in. Her flatmate wasn’t picking up so she called her friend that has a set of keys at her place. We waited there waiting to see which one of these roads will lead us inside. I couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. 

Her flatmate was home and was ignoring her phone distracted by her packing as she is moving out at the end of the year. I sat with her talking as my date prepared something special for me in her room. The conversation with her was kind of forced as I waited for that little bit. She was moving back to the States having been unable to secure a place to do her masters. Soon the message came to my phone to go the bedroom. I couldn’t just leave at that moment. I had to find a natural pause in the convo. It would give my date a chance to anticipate my arrival. 

She was waiting there a vision in a little red outfit that barely could have kept someone warm in a beach even though it had a bit of that faux fur. She asked me if I liked what I saw and I responded enthusiastically that yes I did. We embraced in the hot room where the temperature was somehow turned up. She slowly removed my tie and unbuttoned my shirt…