Little Talks Part 34: Do You Remember Our First Date?

The 34th in a series of short stories about a relationship starring a fictional couple who live rent-free in Scott’s head.

“Do you remember our first date?” she asks during another date, the number of which I have absolutely no clue. We’ve gone on many in a year’s time — though not as many as many newish couples do, as I have a slight aversion to leaving the house and often look at it as more of an unnecessary inconvenience than a potentially good time. This hasn’t been that much of a point of contention just yet, but I can see it becoming one — something I fear she brings up at least semi-often to her friends and family as not exactly a green flag or a sustainable way to conduct a relationship. I often concoct in my head what’s being said about me in her various group chats. This is narcissistic, sure, but that doesn’t make it something I don’t do.

Tonight’s the anniversary of said first date, and we’ve returned to the hotel bar where it took place, which came about after an appropriate amount of semi-witty banter on one of the dating apps from my iPhone folder titled “Don’t Die Alone.” We’re celebrating this anniversary because there’s really no other anniversary to celebrate that we can pinpoint. There wasn’t a night when we “made things…