Wednesday, November 12, 2008

When Hope Turns Weird

Perhaps I was inspired by the outcome of the presidential election, but I unwisely went on a date the other night. The guy seemed normal enough but... Ok, I won't even go into the details. It isn't worth it. All I know is that the older I get and the longer I live in DC, the less I can tolerate. What's worth telling is what happened afterwards. I ended the date early and since I was in Dupont Circle and didn't feel ready to go home, I took myself to Kramerbooks. I was determined to forget about the awful date by picking up a good read and satisfying my chocolate craving. Of course, a strong martini was in order as well. I parked myself at the cafe bar and flipped through the City Paper while I waited for my Death by Chocolate. Almost done with my martini, the bartender informs me that the couple behind me has purchased another drink for me. Couple? I turn around and see a cute, seemingly 20-something guy/girl couple smiling at me. Ok, this had never happened to me so I was rather confused. It's rare these days to get a guy to buy me a drink, let alone a couple. I figured that maybe they felt sorry for the poor single girl sitting alone on a Saturday night. I waved a thank you and turned back to my chocolate. It didn't take long for the girl to come over and sit next to me. She introduced herself and explained that they saw me sitting alone and just wanted to do something nice. I pretended this was not weird and we preceded to have a normal gal pal conversation. I told her all about my bad date and we talked about the problems with dating in DC. Soon after, the guy came over and he ordered us all shots. So of course the conversation starts to flow! They tell me that their solution to the dating dilemma has been to have an open relationship. These two were actually not even in a relationship. They were friends and in relationships with other people. They go out occasionally, have sex, and their partners are ok with it. Not only that, they often invite others to have sex with them! Alrighty then, is all I could say. Could DC single life get any weirder? I now understand this ad (above) for Kramer's much better.

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3 comments:

Jamie said...

Awesome! You found yourself some real swingers. I love stories like this.

Anyway, I don't have any moral issues with that kind of thing, but it's not what I personally think is a good way to get yourself emotionally to a place where you can have (or even want) a serious relationship.

I think that casual sex, open relationships is like recreational drugs. It's fun, it's easy, it's exciting, but over time, it also makes you more less interested in "real life." It can make you detached and less capable of having a committed, monogamous relationship. Which is ultimately more satisfying, and I think what most people deep down really want, but requires patience and much more work. And it's probably hard for a perpetually single person to see the payoff early on, since it is less viscerally exciting than the constant thrill of many partners.

But in the end you will get something from a single, commited partner that you will never get from an open relationship.

This isn't really DC single life, this is just something that some people do sometimes.

Anonymous said...

OMG! No way that really happened...wait, it's DC. This story doesn't surprise me in the least. At least you got a drink out of it?

City Girl DC said...

Yes, this really did happen and nothing surprises me either anymore in DC!