Win Me Over With Cheesecake

My date with Dean was on Sunday and I thought about cancelling based on what had happened after the Halloween party with Kevin. I decided to go anyway because I’m not in a relationship with Kevin and shouldn’t have to reschedule my life based on a kiss that might not mean anything.

Anyway, I arrived at the bookstore Dean and I met at early and decided to order a hot chocolate while I waited for him. He arrived with his red hair mussed and hanging in over his brown eyes and started to scan the bookstore. I waved him over and he sat down. We started with small talk and he ordered a piece of cheesecake for us to share and a coffee for himself. I’m pretty sure I fell in love when he chose the triple chocolate fudge cheesecake.

“Did you do anything special for Halloween?” I asked munching on a bit of cheesecake.

“Yeah, I did a trick-or-treating thing at my church. It was pretty fun to see all the kids dressed up. I think that’s why I like Halloween so much,” he said smiling.

“Is it your favorite Holiday?”

“No, I think I like Thanksgiving more. My mom’s home-cooking blows all competition out of the water. Plus I love getting together with all my siblings around the table and just spending time with my family while eating way too much food you know? What about you, what’s your favorite holiday?”

“I’m a fan of Christmas myself,” I said,” I really like the decorations and I it’s usually the longest vacation time I get, too. There’s something so cozy about spending Christmas with my family that I really like.”

We started to roam about the bookstore to work off that cheesecake (ha!) and I noticed that we have a lot of the same interest in reading materials. I bought a few books and thought that we should take a walk through the park across the street.

He offered to hold my bag full of books and then held my hand as we walked. I learned that Dean has a lot of siblings, he has four brothers and three sisters for a total of seven siblings (8 kids if you count Dean). His brothers seem pretty eclectic, one is a police officer, another is an artist, and the other two run a pretty successful bar together downtown. His sisters seem just as interesting, one is an elementary school teacher, another is a stay at home mom, and the last is still in high school and has recently gotten into the “goth” scene much to Dean’s parents’ dismay.

“So what do you do?”

“I’m an HR rep for a mid-size newspaper in the city, what about you?”

“I guess you could say that I study theology with a focus on Catholicism.”

“Are you still in school?”

“No, I graduated college awhile ago, I’m kind of in a master’s degree program now.”

“Oh, wow, that’s cool. That’s pretty intense, I wasn’t cut out for grad school.”

Dean dropped me off at my apartment and we made plans for later this week. He kissed my cheek as we said goodbye which I thought was really sweet. Kevin who?