AstroBanana Trilogy Part IIa

Note to readers: Erm, the story is still stuck at 14 January 2007. *Eric Banana hears a distinct "Wah lau eh!" in the distant background, which he decides to ignore*

After they parted that night, Eric Banana and Astro Girl continued to exchange pleasantries over SMS, which were probably something along these lines:

Eric Banana <14/01/2007>: Are you back home?

Astro Girl <14/01/2007>: I am back home.

Eric Banana <14/01/2007>: Cool.

Astro Girl <14/01/2007>: Yeah.

Eric Banana <14/01/2007>: Right.

Astro Girl <14/01/2007>: Absolutely.

By now, you should have realised that the above SMS conversation is fictitious. Well, Eric Banana and Astro Girl are not about to post their actual SMS history online anytime soon yah? They do not want to be accused of triggering the next Ice Age.

Anyway, Eric Banana faced a dilemma after that night. It's commonly known as the how-long-should-I-wait-before-I-SMS-her dilemma, which afflicts only guys after their first date. If the guy sends a SMS to the gal too soon, he may come across as "desperate". If he does not send a SMS soon enough, the gal may think that he is not interested in her.

Not wanting to seem "desperate", Eric Banana decided to take it slow and steady. On the other end, Astro Girl must be thinking, "He is a guy. He has my number. The ball is in his court." So eight long days went by before Eric Banana sent a SMS to Astro Girl, asking her out for a movie. Not expecting that Eric Banana was ever going to SMS her, she agreed and picked the movie. A-P-O-C-A-L-Y-P-T-O. What a gutsy gal!

Eric Banana and Astro Girl went out on 28 January 2007, 14 days after they first met. It was a Sunday again. This time they chose to watch the movie at Orchard Cineleisure. It was a rather gruesome movie, at least according to Eric Banana's standards. He was practically flinching at every other scene. Astro Girl? She was hardly even batting an eyelid.

After watching the blood-curdling movie, Eric Banana was not looking to eat much for dinner. Actually, he had no idea where to go for dinner. Neither did Astro Girl. Eric Banana knew he had to make a quick decision to avoid seeming like an indecisive person. Whether he was truly indecisive was another matter altogether. He opted not to be too adventurous and picked a dinner place which he has patronised before.

Dinner was at Shimbashi Soba, which is located in the basement at Paragon Shopping Centre. They had an enjoyable conversation over dinner but Astro Girl was not particularly in love with the food at Shimbashi Soba. Guess it was minus points for Eric Banana :(

After dinner, Eric Banana offered to send Astro Girl home but she declined, probably because she had not fully established whether Eric attended psycho school or not. She did let him walk her to the bus-stop though. From Eric Banana's viewpoint, it was better than nothing.

Moments after she boarded the bus, Eric Banana sent Astro Girl a SMS to tell her how much he enjoyed their date and express his interest in getting to know her better (read: non-platonic). Yes, that sounded mightily desperate but please allow Eric Banana to explain. When a guy and a gal first know each other, it is easy for them to fall into the "just friends" category. And once the just-friends line is established, it becomes very hard if one of them wishes to turn back. As such, Eric Banana opted to be unambiguous and unromantic. He felt very at ease when he was around Astro Girl and maybe that was the lifeline that Cupid has thrown at him...

And that summed up Eric Banana's and Astro Girl's second date. More to come...