Well I left off from swooning about the five year reunion. Remember this - that I had treated this person with such disrespect so long ago. And here we were, years later, after I'd written that apology letter to him.
We started our day at the Cloister Cafe (not at the actual Cloisters in upper NYC, but somewhat downtown instead - like it makes sense but oh well. I guess if we can knight and unknight planets, we can say up is down.) Sitting outside in the garden over tentative poached eggs with spinach, I sipped my coffee with chocolate liquor and he had an iced expresso. He ordered some sort of chicken dish that he had wrapped to go that was completely untouched. From the get go, every meal we ordered, we shared. Which meant that he would be eating veg for the day. We did our opening talks at the restaurant, while still taking in the fact that the past had aged and was sitting between us.
We must have sat in three different parks this day. Each park held important components to our discussions. I should have started to feel the fear of being at the podium, each time we found a grassy spot and kicked our shoes off. Maybe its the fact that there is no food for distraction. Maybe its the ease of which you can pick at the grass while being uncomfortable with conversation content. Every park we sat in was like a Zelda game, with new keys being found to open new doors. And me wondering, with each answer to his questions, how he was processing my verbal equations.
At some point we ended up downtown at a dumpling place - The Dumpling Man I think its called. Delish!!! We shared vegetable dumplings that were dipped (or with the way I dip - slathered) in coconut cucumber sauce. FYI - they have the smallest bathroom in existence. Men, your butts will be on the outside of the door while you take care of business. Confirmed by the man that brought me there.
No moves were made as far as trying to be any sort of romantic. Sure, when we would cross a street and a car would come too close, we'd both do the Right Thing Reaction and throw our arm across the other person, sometimes simultaneously but without acknowledging it. Sometimes he would take my arm to help direct which way we were going. And a couple of times he held my hand after we talked about something painful.
Once we had gotten to dinner, we were fairly comfortable and having such a fun time, despite the punctuation of seriousness that had dotted through the day. I had a beautiful hazelnut cappuccino and he had coffee with this dinner. We sat indoors but with a doorway right at our table to the outside. Here is where we decided that since I didn't have a curfew, the idea of me staying the night would be tossed around. (It was good to pack that toothbrush).
We headed over to the piers and walked barefoot in the grass, eventually lying down in it and just talking, observing (mostly a lesbian couple in a very nondiscreet argument) and watching the lightning. Until the sprinklers came on at 10pm and people screamed (one in particular with a very curt "Shit!") while we all ran off the grass.
He asked what I would like to do next.
The one simple way I could have answered would have been fine, had it been a week later. However, without my powers of time travel, I had to answer with something meaningful, as it was already past 10pm, yet, open. So I suggested we take a little hot toddy outside near his place and relax. Yeah, "Relax", meaning "come check me out in the magic of the dark now that we've been exposed to each other all day long". Can you check out my smoldering impatience and passion in this request? Awwww yeah. Thinking it a great idea, he expanded to add the park near his house as the backdrop. Perfect.
We sat in front of what I'm guessing is a river-ish body. It was still but I don't know of any lakes up in Inwood. We drank Magic Hat #9 and talked and talked while sitting on the ground, still not touching. And saw a little animal run by right about 2 and a half feet in front of us. I heard him say, "Oh its a rat." And then my eyesight caught up to my mind and indeed I matched the word with image and its long tail. That's right. I'm from Connecticut. There is a tailed animal in my home, but its had a rabies shot.
It was getting close to 3am and we'd shifted to the bench. One word led to one hug leading to the 5 year undertow that had been gathering throughout the day.
This is no soap opera so I'll spare readers the gratuitous primality of things.
We woke up at 9am, after 3 hours of sleep. Everything had changed.
