Strangers Who Assume the Worst

I spent Thanksgiving in NYC with my boyfriend and his family this year. I love NYC, and we went into the city every day to do something fun. Saturday was no exception, and we headed into Manhattan for some shopping. We braved the crowds for a while, and managed to get three of the things on our list. One of those things was a Blackberry phone for my boyfriend. I'd never wanted one. I always thought it was silly, or only for business people. And then I held it. And now I want one.

I insisted we go to Little Italy for dinner. We found a cute little restaurant that I can't name now if my life depended on it, and the waiter sat us at a table two inches away from another table with a 40-somethings couple who were madly in love with each other. It was like really being in Italy again.

Dinner was delicious, but we were both tired, so conversation was short. I hadn't been feeling well at all, so I was useless other than to eat the food in front of me. Justin received the text message he was waiting for, which included the address of the apartment we were headed to for games and general hanging out after dinner. I headed to the bathroom.

When I got back, Justin was attempting to navigate his new toy to find some sort of map system so he could figure out where we were going. He was utterly confused, and it was taking a while, but that did not bother me. I sat quietly, content with the food in my belly and the chance to rest. Suddenly I realized that the couple next to us was talking about us. I heard the woman say, "I should help them." And then they were talking to us.

"Excuse me," said the woman, "but are you two on a date or just friends hanging out?" We looked at each other. How to answer that one? We were not necessarily on a date, but we are dating.

Justin answered, "Uh, kinda both?"

"Well I'm going to help you out. You," she said as she pointed to my boyfriend, "need to get off that phone." Justin and I both stared at her, blinking, unsure of what exactly what was going on.

A few moments later, we gathered our wits. Very smoothly, Justin responded, "no." The woman began to protest, but he cut her off. "If I don't figure out where we are going next, this date cannot continue."

"Well, I just see so many couples separated by their phones. They're sitting right there with each other, and they never look up from whatever's in their hands!" Now it was my turn to jump in.

"Oh, no. Thank you for the concern, but we've been dating for a while, and he never does that. This is a brand new phone, and we aren't sure how to use it, and we need to find directions to our next destination."

She sighed a breath of relief. "Oh good. I just didn't want to think you were sitting here on this date and he was ignoring you. Too many couples are like that. We've been seeing it happen all day! It's just so sad!" I politely agreed. She continued on for a bit longer, and then finally they rose to leave. We said our goodbyes, and turned back to finding the navigation program on the Blackberry.

Once we figured out where we were going, we left the restaurant to wander up and down Little Italy for a bit. I bought him a cannoli and myself a cupcake filled with marshmallow fluff. We walked arm in arm and had a lovely conversation, and then we continued our "date" by heading towards our destination.