The Cocktail Conundrum

this past weekend i had a friend in from dallas for my annual participation in the houston AIDS walk. when i see this particular friend it's about the only time i partake of the bar scene anymore.

so friday night... after seeing a very poor paul rudnick play... we hit the bars.

nothing odd in that.

but sunday... after the AIDS walk... one of my houston friends was all "i'm feelin' kinda sexy... let's go out and have some drinks." well, that just kicked in my dallas friend's chicken hawk senses and he was all "yeah, yeah, yeah" - certain to find some willing post-walk-exhausted twink to take back to his swanky hotel room in the galleria.

so..... we went out. on a sunday afternoon. for cocktails.

that...is odd for me.

anyway.... we hit the first bar and found some really good seats overlooking the rather small crowd.

and, yes, we enjoyed ourselves. we were laughing and cutting up....

but out of the corner of my eye i thought i saw a guy checking me out. but i wasn't sure... there were four of us. only... i was the only one he could really see.

and he kept looking.

we decided to hit another bar so i thought i'd use the clean, safe bathrooms at the current establishment before trudging over to the less-than-sanitary digs of the other bars.

he followed. i thought i caught him looking at me... IN THE MIRROR! there was no "i'll show you mine if you show me yours."

but i ignored it. i'm not good at this sort of thing... at least, not anymore.

i return to the table and find another round of drinks. so i'm all, "what this? i thought we were leaving." and my friends are all, "this guy bought us a round of drinks." so i'm, like, "what guy?" and they say "that guy" and point out the one that just followed me to the bathroom.

so we all wave and smile and thank him. and we start to drink our cocktails.

(please pause for dramatic effect.)

now... here's my question. because here... we differ.

what should have happened?

one of my friends thinks someone should have gone over to him and personally thanked him. and they all decided it should've been me.

but why me? "because he likes you," was the reply. but how do you know? (i mean, i knew it was me. i saw him checking me out plus.... well.... i was ten times more desirable than the three friends with me... but nevermind!)

so, really! how do we know?

he didn't buy a cocktail just for me... he bought one for all of us. well, not one drink for all of us. four.. one for each of us. (nevermind.)

what if i hadn't noticed him checking me out? or maybe i just caught his eye because he caught me catching him checking out one of my friends? (but, i mean... it was me. trust me.. i'm much hotter than my three friends.)

so i didn't go over there.

my argument was that he should have come over to us and introduced himself and chatted up the one he was interested in. right? besides... he was the aggressor with the proffered cocktails... why shouldn't he follow through?

eventually, after we finished our drinks... we all left and one by one we introduced ourselves to him and thanked him for the cocktails. no indication on his part as to which one he wanted to talk to more. he didn't address one of us anymore than the other. he asked where we were heading to next and that was that.

now, i can't remember if anyone has ever bought me a drink before. i want to say yes. (probably...) but much more likely: they just offered me drugs and got me in the sack that way.

i mean... back when i did drugs and drank like dorothy parker... i would've gone over to him. (or just laid one on him after the initial key-bumps of cocaine in a joint bathroom stall.)

but this is now... i'm not like that anymore. so i was lost.

what should have happened?

it bothered me the rest of the day. from that bar to the next bar. back to the original bar. and then to another bar.

should i have talked to him? i mean, he was attractive... i mean, kinda. i mean... he wasn't a troll.

okay... let me put it this way: neither of us are any longer in our prime.

so the guilt kicked in. and i kept playing it over and over in my head.

what should i have done? what would you have done? and here... i open the floor to you, my loyal readers.

....?

e.

p.s. today the fourth friend with us randomly found a picture of the guy online... dressed as a slave boy complete with horse reigns à la madonna's confessions tour from this past weekend's madonnarama.

and, well, shit... wouldn't'cha know it? my guilt over the whole situation just melted away at the equestrian sight.

but i still want input. for next time. because, well... you know it'll happen again. (i'm hot...)