Fresh Blood

With my track record for continuously re-dating the same shmoes, wasting years in a vicious cycle of redoing relationships that are going nowhere, I decided that I needed to go on the hunt for some fresh meat. I've stated before that I'm not a big believer in dating websites. I really am not, but in this situation, where I desperately needed some new blood, I decided to give the little faces in boxes a go again.
I reactivated one of my old accounts, and perused the menu of available options. There were a few fishy looking old guys, a couple of meaty beefcakes, some indigestibly geeky brainmuffins, and countless boring, bland, tasteless bread baskets with no butter in sight. I managed to find two appetizing items that looked like something I might want to sink my teeth into. One of them had a sweet sincere smile, dark good looks, and a simple honest profile, like a plate of my favorite seasoned vegetables (saying a lot, coming from a vegetarian). The other looked like a decadent, rich, creamy, chocolatey dessert. Something that I probably shouldn't be considering because it would inevitably end up on my hips and ass, and would probably be difficult to get rid of when I rue the decision for ever biting into it in the first place.
Deep down, I really do want a healthy relationship with a good person, so I contacted option number one, and within about a week, we went out. He is adorable, just as beautiful as his pictures showed, with an extremely sweet smile, deep brown eyes, and a quirky little scar on his forehead. He showed up a few minutes late, but was extremely apologetic, and explained why. When the server came, he ordered an appetizer, though we were initially only out for drinks. To my surprise, I found out that he is a vegetarian as well. This occurrence baffled me. The only male vegetarians I knew were either granolas, gay, or obnoxious. An attractive, down to earth, male vegetarian seemed about as common as finding big foot riding on a unicorn by a kettle of gold. But I found one. We shared two appetizers and split a dessert - which he more than happily persuaded me to select. We shared some fun stories about ourselves, and overall had a great time. We walked out to the parking lot together, and parted ways to our own vehicles. One of the better dates I've had in a long time, though I wasn't sure how much chemistry we have towards a relationship, I am most definitely up to seeing him again to figure it out.
And then there are my inner cravings. They can be too much to bear at times. I contacted option number two. Almost three weeks later, we were able to meet in person. I drove 45 minutes to meet him in Tacoma, because he lives near Olympia. I had found some fun date ideas to do out there and decided to use one of them. I was coming straight from work, and was famished. I let him know that I would need to eat something, so to plan on catching some food out there. Once out there, I got word from him that he was running late. A few text messages and an hour later, he showed up. I had patiently sat, sipping my beer, waiting to order until he got there. That's when he told me that one of his friends had barbecued, and that he grabbed some chicken on his way over. So he watched me eat. While he watched me eat my dinner, he mentioned that his friend was having a party that evening, and invited me to it. He also mentioned that another friend was DJing at a nearby club, and invited me there. He wasn't obnoxious about it, never suggesting we immediately leave what were doing to do these other options, but moreso that we could do that as well. When I had eaten enough under his watchful eyes, it was time for the bill. I wasn't planning on letting him pay for me, because I'm a pretty big believer in going dutch on blind/singles site dates. Since he didn't eat anything, I felt weird about making a point of splitting the bill, so I just paid for the whole thing. He seemed fine with this, and then stated that he had the tip, for which he under tipped the server by quite a bit. We then left the bar for the arcade that I wanted to go to. I hadn't told him where we were headed, expecting any male to have the same reaction that I would if someone surprisingly took me to an arcade on a date: I would immediately adore them. We walked around, and he made a bee line to the bathroom (his third john visit of the hour, plus one trip to his vehicle to make sure that he paid for parking). It was a bit of a red flag, though I wasn't sure why. I got some quarters, and we played a few games, and he patronized my efforts, though he definitely wasn't as excited to play Pac Man, old school Mario Bros, and Frogger as I was.  We did actually have some fun in the arcade - it wasn't horrible, but obviously it wasn't the greatest date I've ever been on, either. I can't fault him as of yet because some of the icky stuff can be circumstantial. He did buy my beer at the arcade, and possibly would have figured something about the bill at the bar if it wasn't such an awkward situation - part of which was due to his inconsideration. I think the thing that stands out the most was one tiny little instance at the arcade. I could tell he found me attractive while we were sipping bears and talking at the bar, but I was surprised while walking through the arcade, I turned around to say something to him and caught him looking at me so salaciously that it felt like he should have had my consent or something before looking at me that way. He eye raped me.
When I was ready to head home, he walked me to my car - the first man to do that on a first date with me in a long while, and then he kissed me. Even after the lukewarm aspects of the date, his kiss was really nice. I may consider a second date with him because we did have chemistry, and I want to see if some of the snafus were just that: snafus.
It's always at this point that I want to find a good sized stick, and smack myself over the head with it repeatedly. I think that chemistry is making me stupid. I'm not more interested in option number two, obviously, though I may be more attracted to him, even if option number one is more beautiful, kind, sincere, and thoughtful. I may need to readjust my appetite just a little bit. If anyone knows of healthy options menu of men for me to select from, please send it my way!