Where we started...Part III

Here is the installment leading up to our first kiss. This is the second to last installment...although I'm tempted to keep going because Cody was so amazing during our entire dating period. He was the most thoughtful and sweet boyfriend and I'd love to share every email and detail of every date, but Cody said that would be too much. He's hinted at the fact that I've already overdone this project. And he argues that some dating details and emails should be considered private. He wants some memories to just be ours. What a selfish downer, right? His restrictions are so confining. But he's probably right and I know it. And it pisses me off when he's right.

So get on your slippers and get out your reading glasses and get ready for some k-i-s-s-i-n-g.

It was over a week until our Jay Leno taping date. We had church and FHE, texts and subtle flirting, but no real time together. Friday eventually came and I was so excited for the date. I remember thinking about how fun Jay Leno was going to be. The whole day at work I was only thinking about the date. Well, not really the whole day. I worked only a half a day because Cody was coming to pick me up so we could be in LA in time for the taping.

After leaving work, I rushed around trying to get ready, eat some lunch, and get the house all clean before Cody came. I felt like I was ahead of schedule and that I might even have some down time for the make-up and perfume to settle, and the body to relax before Cody came, but Cody called when he was about 5 minutes out warning me that he was going to be arriving ahead of schedule. With a good amount of sass, I scolded him for arriving early, because no man should be early picking up a woman for a date. It's just a rule of dating. A man can't be late either, so it's a tight rope to walk. I guess I'll counsel my sons to arrive early and wait in the car (down the street) until the given time arrives and then drive the 100 yards to the girl's house and walk to her door to pick her up. But Cody was coming early because he didn't want to hit too much traffic, was getting nervous about it being Friday and all, and he knew I was home. At least he called, because I was able to kick it into high gear and pretend like 5 minutes is all I need to get ready.

Derek’s date ended up canceling on him, so he took Jeff. So it was the three male roommates and me for the entire afternoon and night. It ended up being great with the guys and I didn't feel out of place thanks to Cody. After arriving at the Jay Leno Show taping with a little time to spare, Cody relaxed and I felt him being a tad touchy and flirtatious. Cody and I had a great time laughing and whispering during the show, which had Marissa Tomei as the main guest. She was there to discuss her nomination for an Oscar for The Westler. She looked phenominal. A comedian was also on the show, and he was seriously hi-lar-ious. I still remember some of his jokes. The last guest was an animal guy, and he had some wierd animals that I couldn't even begin to remember, even if I tried. So the show had a good variety, and certainly didn't disappoint.

After the taping, we drove to Santa Monica and went to this posh restaurant in LA called Rock Sugar…which was De-lic-ious!!!! Conversation was smooth and I was loving my date with Cody...and Derek and Jeff. The only thing that was a little difficult was that we all shared food at dinner and I had the problem of wanting more food, much more food, but feeling like I should eat very little because I was the woman. I normally pig out on dates, but I think it was the sharing aspect that had me in a funk.

Aside from completely enjoying the food but feeling like I wasn't supposed to indulge, it was a perfect Friday. On the drive home, we all described everyone in the car with one word. I remember calling Derek "child-like." Derek's instinct was to be insulted, but I explained that he thinks the best of people, even when they take advantage of him, etc. I have no memory of describing Jeff, but I remember very well calling Cody “confusing.” He wanted to know why, but I stayed vague. Truth is, he was confusing because of the silly question on date #1 and the two weeks between date #1 and #2, and the need for “double dates.” Cody described me as “whole.” I had no clue what this meant. He kept saying, just look up synonyms for whole and you will get a good idea of what I mean. Later that night at Cody’s, we did look up “whole” and one word that jumped out at me was the synonym “perfect.” I asked him if he wanted to change his word after reading what the thesaurus had to say and he simply said, “no.” I LOVED his one word description, obviously.

Also, on the car ride back from LA, everyone in the car described their types. The conversation really began because I was trying to see what kind of girl Derek was looking for, since he wasn’t really pursuing any girl in the ward. But, I was more alert and interested when Cody was describing his type. And it turns out, Cody’s ideal girl didn’t sound anything like me: patient, low-maintenance, spontaneous, (tan) and other attributes. I told Cody how high-maintenance, non-spontaneous, and impatient I am, but I didn’t feel like he was seeing the dilemma. I figured Cody should date someone like Wendy in the ward, a girl who would live in South America with him at the drop of a hat. But as we transitioned from the car to the guy's apartment, and especially after looking up “whole” in the thesaurus, I forgot about the ideal Cody wanted, which I wasn’t.

As a side note, I remember telling Cody on the ride back that I could totally picture him on a couch, relaxed, watching TV, all while drinking beer from a glass bottle (definately not a canned beer for some reason). I laugh when I think of that random comment, because there was no need to tell Cody this, and BECAUSE CODY IS SO NOT LIKE THAT, never was, never will be. And if he ever did drink beer, it would be a cheap, canned beer, not a fancy glass bottled one.

That night, after the date, I was supposed to head up to Joshua Tree National Forest to go camping with the ward, who had left earlier that afternoon for the campsite. But I lingered at Cody’s and he convinced me to stay in town because I was getting such a late start on the drive, because it was a 2 hour drive each way for such a quick turn around the next afternoon, and of course, because I was tired. I liked the protective hints and the “stay here longer” suggestion. After watching some tv with the roommates and snooping around Cody’s room, Cody drove me home.

The next evening, I went to dinner and saw a movie with a bunch of friends. It was nice telling all the girls about my date. During the movie, I received a text from Cody, inviting me to come over to his place to watch a movie. I waited until after the movie had finished, and then I called Cody to discuss the invitation. He said his movie had barely started and to make my way over to his place. I was hesitant, because I was already late, I had just seen a movie, there were some people over watching the movie that I didn’t know, and because I had just stayed late the night before. But I did want to go and spend time with my new guy friends, and especially Cody, so with very little persuasion, I headed over to Turtle Crest Apartments once again.

I walked up to the apartment only to enter a dark living room with bodies sprawled out on couches. I was kicking myself for taking Cody up on his offer and about to sit on the floor, but Cody said to come sit next to him, he’d make room. I joined him in “the pit,” a tight cuddle corner. The only way we fit in the space was to squeeze close. Cody had to put his arm around me to have our shoulders work in the space. The cuddling was nice, and I knew at that moment that I was attracted to Cody, that I was liking him. If the texts, the 3 hour phone conversation, the dates, flirting, and willingly going to watch half a movie when I'd already seen a great movie on the big screen hadn't let me know, the cuddling and subsequent butterflies did the trick. I had come to the realization that I liked Cody. Everything put together meant that my sister Brooke might actually be right, I might actually "seriously date" this Cody kid.

Now, my butterflies weren't all sugar and spice. I got nervous for what follows cuddling and affection...you know...kissing. I knew I wouldn't kiss Cody that night, but if we were already cuddling, and I knew I liked him, the kissing wasn't afar off. And have I mentioned that I HATE first kisses? Some people like them, actually most people probably like them, but I don't. And anything reminding me of a potential first kiss can make me somewhat nauseous. I just soak up all the nerves and awkwardness, and the experience is ruined. First kisses are too mental to be enjoyable. At least for me they are.

But like I said, I didn't think I needed to worry about kissing. I fell asleep in Cody's arms after the movie ended and the group started watching SNL. I awoke to only Cody and me in the living room. The other guests had left and did say good-bye to me, but I didn't wake up despite their attempts. Tired, and feeling silly for sleeping, I got up and started putting on my coat, all the while talking to Cody about this or that. Literally, out of the blue, right when I was tying the ribbon on my coat, and before I knew what was happening and could avoid it, Cody was in front of my face kissing me. I was caught so off guard. I didn't have much time to gete nauseous, because there was NO build-up, but I was still mentally thinking, "are we really kissing right now, tonight?" It was unlike any first kiss I’d ever had, which made me feel confused. It was a machine gun type of kiss. A series of fast, gentle kisses, one after the other. I was dying, because I hate the first kiss, but I really hate first kissES.

After the series ended, Cody walked me to my car. And at this point, I knew the line had been crossed. There was no turning back on the kissing. See, I normally date men for weeks, and go on numerous dates before kissing them. I wait till they can’t stand it anymore and until they virtually love me before I let them get any lip service. I figured it always gave me the upper hand. But with Cody, he snuck up on me. I didn’t have a chance to refuse the kissing situation. So, at my car I thought, “well, I might as well show him my skills.” No joke. That’s what I thought. I know, I know. But I wasn’t going to have our first kissing episode start and end with rapid fire pecks, gentle or not. So I threw my purse up on the roof of my car, put my back to the driver’s door, and gave him room to go in for more, but this time I kissed him back. And we slowed down. And we stood there, for an hour, kissing in the dark of night.

That night when I got home, I was too wired to go straight to bed. Plus, I had had a good nap. So I surfed the internet. I checked facebook, and Cody’s status showed up on my new's feed. All he said was, Cody “is rethinking his type.” And I remembered our car ride from LA two nights ago, when I told Cody I wasn't his type.

To be concluded...