“Oh right.” He shook his head, like he was trying to clear it. “Ice cream then. Or frozen yogurt or whatever you kids are into. Get it to go and go for a walk.”

“A walk?”

“Yeah, take her out to Cambridge or Boston Common and go on a nice walk after dinner. You can talk without having to stare at each other over a table in a restaurant, plus you can walk her home depending on the area you’re in.”

“Dad,” I said, mock-scandalized, “are you suggesting I try to invite myself in?”

“Absolutely not, young lady.” He pointed a finger at me. “I know you don’t face the risk of getting pregnant, but STIs are very real—if overstigmatized—and I really think you should get to know someone before—”

“Oh my god, please stop,” I begged, mortified.

“I just think it’s the courteous thing to do,” he said as we both ignored our red-hot faces. “If the night is going well, walking someone to their doorstep can be a lovely way to end the evening.”

“Okay,” I said, focusing on the bits of un-sex-related advice he’d given me. “Dinner, dessert, and a walk, I can do that.”

And I’m actually feeling like I can. I’ve plotted the whole thing out and already texted Emily the name of the restaurant—a new place they were talking about in the kitchen of Milton that’s trendy but not too trendy and nice but not too nice (I’m not making money right now, after all)—and have our route to a bakery and then the Common mapped out. I don’t know where Emily lives yet, so I’ll just have to wing that bit, but I’m feeling confident. Confident-ish. As confident as anyone with a sprained wrist can be when going on their first real date ever with a girl who also has a broken wrist and I keep thinking about how we hurt opposite arms so can still hold hands and christ I really should probably go to sleep now.

I just hope I dream of Emily.

community/TheUnusuals post by n/thatsahumanperson

Jumping into this sub with a slightly different set of questions today.

I went to sleep pretty late last night—got caught up trying to build a new website from scratch for my dad’s business as a birthday present for him and, despite his best efforts, I know literally nothing about construction, so it wasn’t as simple of a task as I expected. I dropped off pretty quickly, which isn’t always the easiest for me. When I’m falling asleep, I’m not making as much of an effort to block out thoughts, so if anyone else in the house is awake, sometimes a stray thought will worm its way in and wake me up. I usually try to go to bed after everyone else, but last night was even later than usual.