You Can Find Me in Da Pub

So Friday night I met my friend for her birthday happy hour, and got to the bar around 7:30 p.m. Mister Darcy had called to say he'd be there around 9, so I had some time to relax.

Of course as the minutes ticked closer to the time I began staring at the door. And then telling myself to stop staring. And then staring some more. I'd seen photos of him, but I still panicked a few times when a semi-cute dirty blonde walked in. Then I saw a guy who was not my type at all, and we had this weird eye contact exchange because I was staring at him hoping he wasn't Mister Darcy. He caught me, looked away, and looked back and I looked back and met his gaze and for some reason I couldn't look away.

It wasn't him. So then, it gets to be 9:05 and there's no sign of him. I started to wonder if maybe he walked in, saw me, and was pealing off in his car at that moment. At this point, the group was heading down the block, so I figured I'd just tell him we left if he called.

The second we got to the bar down the street, Mr. D. called. So now I knew it would be about 60 seconds before we met face to face. And my heart started racing. What if he was awful? What if he thought I was awful? Was this going to be a trainwreck?

All of your optimism goes out the window in moments this like and all you feel is sheer terror.

I was talking to the birthday girl when a cute dirty blonde walked past me and then did a slow turn and gave me the side eye and then we made eye contact. This had to be him.

He walked up to me and I took a deep breath and said hi. He said hi and just stared at me until I spoke again. So I mumbled something and he said, "What?" So I repeated my question and then he answered but his accent made it hard to understand everything he said, so I said, "What?"

This was going to be grrrrrreat.

He was wearing a green sweater with a white button down underneath and dark jeans. But I forget what his shoes looked like and now that's driving me crazy!

Anyway we sat at the bar and made small talk while we observed each other. He seemed a little nervous, but I'm sure he thought the same thing, because I was doing my talk-too-fast-ramble-and-repeat number and he was just trying to understand something that came out of my mouth.

Finally I asked if he was okay because he seemed really jumpy, and he said that he was nervous his car was going to get towed because after circling the block for 15 minutes, he finally just parked in a tow zone. My friend and her fiance had just gotten to the bar to meet us, but there was a line, so the four of us left and moved his car, and then ended up at a tiny, quieter bar.

And it was really nice to have them there because my friends aren't shy, and they had lots of funny questions for our Brit, so things seemed to go a little more smoothly.

At one point, he was talking about his day and mentioned going to the "petrol station" and the three of us just stared at him, until finally my friend goes, "oh GAS station!" and we finally got it. And he refers to his hometown as his "village." Adorable!

I was having a good time, but he was SO hard to read. I wasn't sure what he was thinking, which made me more nervous.

Anyway, I started to get tired around midnight and he had to work the next morning, so we called it a night. He dropped me off and I said Cheerio!

That never gets old.

He's cute and put-together, and has a good sense of humor. My friends said they liked him too. So bonus points. However, he's a little shy in person. But maybe he just needs to warm up a little.

However, we have a little issue. He's only in the country for about 9 more months for work. So I have a decision to make: do I say thanks but no thanks, or do I just have some fun with a cute foreigner? I feel like at least we can be friends for the time he's here. And it takes away all the pressure which I like.

So I need your input. Do I see him again, or has his passport expired?