On this day, one year ago, I met up with a pretty girl in Manhattan. The place we had chosen for brunch wouldn't tell me if I was allergic to their food, so instead we went to a nearby 50's diner that, we later deduced, transforms into a gay bar at night. After brunch, the day went by quickly. We spent a few hours in the Natural History Museum, and prayed the afternoon prayer in Central Park. It was cold and she lent me her scarf. We got on a train to Brooklyn to grab some Bangladeshi food on Church Ave. Worried that I was entering the friend zone, I tried desperately to flirt.

"Oh, where did you get this watch?" (sweatily reaches over and touches her wrist).
"Is that black nail polish?" (sweatily reaches over and touches her fingers).
"Uhm, no! It's eggplant. Who wears black nail polish?!"

Sensing that my flirting was not going quite the way I wanted, I decided to just flat out tell her later, and when I did, it came out like this:

"Uhm... so... this may be obvious... but.... I really like you. A lot. ...you don't have to say anything right now... we can just be friends for now if you want... I mean, just don't feel pressured to say anything..."

I remember she was looking away from me and was smiling at something in the distance, or maybe at nothing at all. "I'm really glad you told me that," she said. "... and I like you too."

--Jan 5th, 2014