I lived in Sweden for three and a half years. I went to Swedish school and my Swedish is pretty good. It appears that if there's the opportunity to learn a new language then I'm there. Little did I expect to get a date out of it.
Work were offering free Spanish lessons as part of their life long learning initiative. A few of us in the office thought it sounded good so over we headed to the classroom for a little Spanish fun. Now we turned up late to the first class due to problems with the tube which meant that one of our friends was already there waiting for us and already pretty fluent and us having to sit at the front of the class. Our fluent friend had managed to bag a seat next to a cute guy who all my friends appeared to know. This boy was very English and Swedish looking. Think the Boy-Who-Should've-Known-Better but without the tattoos and slightly slimmer. The class was fun, I was pretty good and two hours later me, my friends and Transport Boy, oh yes he works in Transport, how apt, are all huddled under umbrellas heading for the DLR.
We all jump on the same train and I introduce myself to the Transport Boy. I'm only on the train for one stop but enough for a bit of introductory small talk.
A couple of days later my colleague is on the phone to the Transport Boy and I hear my name being mentioned. I also hear her telling him that I'm 'young, free and single' which was technically true as everything had fizzled out with the Aussie and I was only only going to get hurt if I didn't step away. Once she had put the phone down I was treated to the full conversation and how I supposedly caught the Transport Boy's eye.
A week later and its Spanish class again. Forever to always turn up late, myself and the girls arrive with the Transport Boy worried that he's going to have to endure pretty much a private lesson. We arrive, I smile at him and the lesson continues. Two hours later and we're all walking back to the DLR. The other girls hop onto a train in the other direction leaving myself and the Transport Boy to travel alone. Now I don't know whether this was planed but what definitely wasn't planed was our crazy Spanish teacher running onto the train and sitting with us! We made conversation about the Olympics and I hopped off the train at the next stop.
The next day my colleague called me over to her desk to see an email she received from the Transport Boy. Laughing to myself I read how he was hoping to ask me out for a drink but couldn't because our teacher interrupted us and then spent the rest of the journey muttering to herself and telling him her life story! Amused by this I then emailed the Transport Boy to ask how his journey back home was and as to whether he was now fluent in the language. A bit of email banter back and forth and we've arranged a date for that evening.
Rather spontaneous and impromptu, we met at Canary Wharf station and walked round to the water to a pub in the area. It was cold we had to sit inside. Now the venue for the date wasn't great, pubs in Canary Wharf aren't but you've got to work with what you've got and we found a bench at a high table. Now this was actually quite a good seating arrangement, we both could sit next to each other and not opposite like an interview, it meant that we had to sit closer to be able to talk and hear each other easily, and if the date was going well, it meant that any tactile moments could be done easily without it all seeming a little try-hard.
The date itself was good despite the location. It was very obvious to all those in the pub drinking in groups of friends and colleagues that we were on a date and I admit, at times, I did feel a little self concious. However, the conversation flowed nicely, there were some flirty smiles and a few cheeky tactile hands on the arm. It was nice and fun too, possibly because it was all a little last minute and unplanned. I would however, make the effort for a possible second date to go somewhere a little more intimate and cool, the tapas bar perhaps, and how fitting seeing as we met at Spanish class!
Three gin and tonics later and the time is past ten and very much time to make a move. The Transport Boy walked me back to the DLR. As he dropped me off we both said that we'd had a fun evening and as we said goodbye we both went in for a little kiss on the lips. Very cute.
Second date? Potentially...
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