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Dinner and a Ride

A while ago, a buddy of mine invited me along on a hike. A bunch of her other friends were there, and they seemed nice enough, so I made friends with a few of them, as well. Fast forward a couple of months, and the new-found friend asked if I wanted to have dinner with her and the hiking buddy. They wanted to go to a ramen place that was supposed to be really good, so I happily accepted the offer. Little did I know the laughter that would result from this.

Shortly after I agreed to go, my hiking buddy commented that she could provide some company on the ride back across the bridge, since she had to come back the same way I was going. A couple of days later, she asked if I would mind giving her a ride back home after dinner. Now, let me be clear: it was all very innocent and given that the we were heading in the same direction, riding together made a lot of sense. Let me also be clear about this, though: I am a smart aleck and I couldn't pass up the chance for some friendly ribbing. That's how I found myself agreeing to give her a ride and commenting, with a grin, "y'know, if you wanted a ride, there are less round-about ways to do it than asking me to dinner." She defended herself from my mock accusations, and there were a few chuckles had.

On the actual night of said dinner, the new friend also commented on this, with a laugh. She commented that inviting me along had been her idea, not hiking buddy's. However, she also remarked that she wouldn't put it past hiking buddy to plan ahead for this contingency in that manner. Hiking buddy is a very intelligent, detail-oriented person, and she's the type who will drive to work the day before she starts work so that she knows exactly how to get there. Like I said, she's a planner, that one. Given that, I agreed with this assessment with a chuckle.

Now, dinner wasn't just the three of us, there were six folks total. A couple of those happened to be a lesbian couple, and they had a few entertaining stories to go along with dinner. Apparently there had been some ignorant folks protesting something or other when they were out, so they decided to counter-protest while they were there. They walked over, started making out, and then took a picture (a selfie of sorts). This drew the protesters' ire even more, but drew a hearty chuckle from me.

Not twenty minutes later, the conversation had somehow turned to how one of these women had realized she was gay. She said something along the lines of, "I knew when I realized that other women could appreciate the female figure, but I wanted to suckle breasts." This led to even more laughter from all present, but it also had an interesting side effect: it drew the attention of the next table. Some guy who was sitting at the next table must have heard this, because he turned and looked. I don't mean that he threw discreet sideways glances in our direction. Oh no, he openly gawked and stared for what felt like ten seconds. With his mouth open the whole time. A few of us noticed, and we couldn't help but laugh even more as a result.

Dinner wrapped up, and we were set to head our separate ways. Hiking Buddy was coming with me, so she started to say her good byes. This quickly led to a recounting of the whole ride situation (for the record, I didn't bring it up), and I laughed some more. What was even funnier was that her friends were giving her a hard time since she wasn't even the one who invited me to dinner. At that point, I just sat back, watched, and laughed. It was all good-natured ribbing and no one took any offense by any of it, but it was hilarious to watch.

By the time I got home, I couldn't help but think that it had been a good night.

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