The day with Amanda

So on Thursday I worked until about noon-ish when Amanda sent me a message saying she was leaving now to meet at Town Hall. I thought she seemed pretty eager and I didn't want to be a dick to make her waiting, so after a few minutes I left to meet her as well. I got to the steps early and waited for her. I felt like I had forgotten what she looked like, as I kept looking out for someone short, Asian with slightly big eyes.

After a while, as I looked down at the platform below, I saw her, and she waved at me. I felt a little nervous as I walked to the stairs to greet her. She looked slightly different. We said hello and quickly discussed where to go for lunch. I had in mind the Wagamama that I went to with Ele before. I suggested that to her but she didn't seem too keen on it, instead suggesting the one above it. That was cool, so we went up the escalators only to find that it was pretty packed.

It wasn't a problem though, because we went to a new Japanese restaurant below and sat on stools in front of the sushi train. She ordered some ramen and I was content to just pick things up off the train. We got to know eachother a bit more, as we talked about work, uni and hobbies. Amongst the things we talked about:

- she did an Arts degree at UNSW;
- she's been at her company for six years, doing payroll in HR;
- she didn't know anyone else at the event that night;

Hmmm my memory is quite bad now, maybe because of the time that's lapsed. Anyway, when her ramen arrived, she shared it with me. We shared the sushi dishes I picked off as well, and towards the end she urged me to have some of her fried vegetables. She ordered two more dishes at the end and we waited for a while for them. She said she liked eel, so she ordered a dish of that.

Even though my lunch hour was pretty much up, I wasn't in too much of a hurry, as I was kinda enjoying the time. I thought it went pretty well. When we were finished, we went to line up at the cashier, and I offered to pay. She did say she'd pay her share, but I just paid the whole thing, saying it was for the tennis lesson to later come. I noticed that when I dropped in the sole coin in change as a tip, that she saw it.

We separated at the big intersection, with her saying she'd text me her office address so I could pick her up after work for tennis. Because of her timely messages thus far, I assumed she would text me pretty much straight away, but for a few hours I didn't get anything so I was beginning to wonder if she was having second thoughts. Maybe I had screwed up at the lunch?

But eventually her message came, advising me of her address. I left work at about 4:45pm so I could go home to change and get the car. I had planned to leave at 4:30pm but the presence of Michael talking with some admin guy near my room deterred me, so I had to hang around a bit longer.

Anyway, I got home to change into my jersey and shorts with swiimming trunks underneath, then drove back out to the city. My changed time of meeting her at 5:45pm worked out well, because even though I got to the city at about 5:30pm, it took me a while to maneuver through the city roads to get to her work place.

I found it after a while, and parked across the road where there was plenty of parking. I was trying to look for her but couldn't spot her, and then decided to drive to the other side of the road to look for her. As I was waiting for traffic to clear, I saw her walking towards my car.

She got in and had food and drinks with her. She gave me a pie, and then offered me coke or an orange juice, so I took the latter. She said her place of work gives away free drinks just like that. I think she wanted to consume the food there and then, but I had my mind on getting there rather quickly so we could make the most of daylight.

To be honest, I had thought there was a tiny tiny chance of sex. I mean, she had invited me to her house. Although I was not actually expecting it.

We drove to her place with the assistance of her navigation, and turns out that she lives in the same complex as Dunnycan. I asked, but she didn't know anyone by that name.

When I parked, she said she would go in and change and would be quick. I said it was no rush as I would just eat the pie as I waited. She said something about no way of fobbing me off as we were now at her house?

While I waited, I ate the pie and had about half of the orange juice, wanting to save the rest of it for tennis. The pie was actually pretty good, or maybe I was just hungry. When she came back, she was wearing a small cap with a singlet and shorts. I must say, it wasn't a very flattering look for her.

I asked her if having free food meant she didn't need to buy lunch, but she said she paid for the pie - the drinks were the only free things given by her company.

We walked to the tennis courts only to see that both were occupied. She sounded disappointed, and didn't seem to know what to do at first, but then suggested we swim first. But then one of the guys said they were finishing soon, so we walked around the corner and talked a bit as we waited. She said she would have one of the soft drinks even though she normally didn't have fizzy drinks.

After a while we decided to check on the courts again and the guys had just walked out of it. So we went in and started hitting the ball around. I remember at the dinner, she seemed so enthusiastic about tennis, so I was naturally disappointed to see that she actually wasn't 'that' good at it.

I had fun just hitting it back and forth with her, because it wasn't like I got to do it everyday. I also enjoyed how sometimes we would meet at the net and talk. She could tell I was going easy on her, as I tended to hit it back high and soft. However, I noticed she wasn't given me the same courtesy, sometimes smashing it from side to side to make me run and beat me.

I felt a bit confused as we played. At some angles, I found her to be somewhat attractive. But for the most part, I wondered what I was doing there. Maybe it was just her outfit. Perhaps ironically, at one stage she said she picked her yellow shorts to match mine.

After a while, the old foursome playing on the next court had finished and were sitting nearby to cool down. Then four young girls replaced them on their court, and I only needed a glance to see that they were kinda hot. I had to make a conscious effort not to get caught looking, but already it made me question whether Amanda was the one for me. I mean, if I was really attracted to her, I wouldn't have even noticed the other girls, right?

We played for a bit longer before deciding to finish up. She wondered whether the girls had the key to lock up and went to ask them. As I watched her walk to the fence, it again provided a contrast for me - do I settle for the small Asian girl with the goofy cap, or do I continue to aimlessly pursue my futile goal of finding a white girl?

We packed up and went to the swimming pool. There were a couple of guys in the spa, but the rest of the pool was clear for us. We went into the change rooms to change, even though I only needed to take off my jersey and shorts.

She looked a bit better without the cap, but I was still wondering how she looked so different on the night of the dinner. We went into the water, and I was a bit tentative cause it looked kinda cold, but like she said, it actually wasn't too bad once we were submerged in it.

While she paddled around, I kinda just walked around following her, as I didn't know how to do breast stroke to mimic her. We talked, and often I would break off to swim to the other side where we'd talk again, and then go back to the shallow side.

We talked about the moon, how amazing it was to think this planet was the only one with life on it (although she disagreed, even though she's not religious) and a bit about my family (also found out she lives with her family). I didn't like the talk about my family. She seemed to talk a bit about my sister, wondering why she never went out and suggested that she meet up with her to meet more guys together. That kinda struck a funny chord with me.

I must admit, it was kinda romantic later on when the sun started setting and it was almost dark, with just the moonlight as the only source of light. However, me being me, I naturally kept my distance. I didn't even try to be playful by flicking water at her. At this stage, I guess most guys would've tried to go for a kiss, but I just couldn't do it, because of my natural predisposition to be distant from others.

After a while we decided to finish up and get out of the water. It was pretty dark by now and she dried herself by the side of the pool while I decided to do it in the change room.

I was a bit surprised to see her standing there in her swimsuit even after I had changed, as I feared she might get a cold, but she said it was ok.

Leaving was a bit awkward, as I felt like we didn't know if there should be some sort of physical contact or not. It kinda seemed like she didn't want to leave, yet the situation demanded it.

I was kinda relieved in one sense when I got back into my car, feeling that nothing had really ruined the day. I saw I had a missed call from G. I thought he wanted to ask how it went but turns out he wanted to ask me a legal question. I said I'd drive to his place to return the racquet and we could talk then.

On the drive there, the main difference that stood out for me between Amanda and Chloe was that I wasn't thinking of paying Naby a visit afterwards. I mean, and this might sound bad, but during my time with Chloe, all I could think about was how I was going to see Naby afterwards. I didn't have that with Amanda. Instead, part of me thinks that maybe she can be the one to steer me in the right direction. But another part of me is asking: is she good looking enough?

Anyway, I went to G's place and got invited in to help with the legal form he was completing. His dad offered me coke and watermelon, and I only had the watermelon as I was still trying to stay away from caffeine. I helped him and we talked a bit about Amanda, all I could offer was that we had a lot of similarities.