So, I realized yesterday that I haven't been on an official date since early October, 2008. I went to the corn maze. Lame-sauce! Sure. There have a few other happenings that could count as dates. But there wasn't anything planned, or I paid for myself. I could count these on one hand (four fingers to be exact), but I don't really count these occurrences as dates.

I've decided to work on this. I'm not sure exactly what I can do...except be more social. So that's what I've decided to do.

Yesterday I was late for Sacrament Meeting. Not overly late, I arrived during the opening hymn. Usually in this occurrence I would sit on the back row, so I don't disturb anyone. Apparently, quite a few people were late to Sacrament meeting and the back rows were full. So I started to work my way up the aisle, aiming for the next empty pew. There, a pew behind it, was Pete. Pete is one of the guys I not-really-dated*. He's cute and funny. I would say yes if he asked me out.

So as I'm walking past, I see him, and in the two seconds where I debated moving forward or sitting with him, these thoughts zoomed through my head. "Just keep walking. But if you sit with him, maybe he'll ask you out. Be social, wasn't that the goal? But what if he doesn't WANT to sit by me? Well, you better make a decision because you are by his pew, and if you want to sit with him, you better decide quick!"

"Hey Pete." I whisper. "Can I sit by you?"

He moved aside making room for me, I have no idea if he was smiling or not. I set my stuff of the empty pew in front of me and leaned back against the pew. I smiled shyly and looked forward. It was actually a bit awkward and I kind of regretted sitting by him. What if he didn't want me to sit by him? But on the spot like that, what is he going to do? We're in the middle of singing 'Lord, I Would Follow Thee' and he exclaims, "NO! You can not sit by me Katie Weber!" Psh. Right.

We sat there in silence through the ward/stake business and I longed to lean over and whisper something, breaking the tension. But what if he was totally enjoying the sustaining of the new Stake Young Women's presidency? Who was I to interrupt him unless I had some really insightful thing to say. We moved on to the rest hymn and the sacrament. Whew! An excuse to not speak. We're being reverent. But it was over quickly and the first speaker stood up.

Pete then reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of gum, offering me a piece. I took it, an entire scene from Friends** running through my head. I unwrap the gum. 'Blackjack' it says. The gum inside is black too. In my head I wonder if this is that turn-your-teeth-black prank gum, but he puts his stick in his mouth and I lift mine to do the same, figuring it must be safe. I lean over as I do this. "What kind of gum is this?" The gum touches my tongue, answering for myself as he replies. "Black Licorice."

Anyone that knows me knows I HATE black licorice. But what was I to do? Give it back? No! It had been on my tongue! I put the stick in my mouth and began to chew, wincing at the grotesque flavor. I made a few clearing-my-throat noises as I tried not to show my utter revulsion as the flavor filled my mouth. He looked over at me with a smirk.

"Do you not like it?"

"I hate black licorice." I'm sure my face looked disgusted.

He chuckled. This painful experience gave us something to whisper about during the talks that we should have been listening to. I chewed that piece of gum all through Sacrament Meeting. Success!

Still no date, but things are looking up.

*A friend of mine invited me to play games with a bunch of people. It ended up just being Pete and I, and she and her fiance. It was very paired off...and if Pete had asked me...I'd call it a date. But he didn't, so it wasn't.

**The one where Chandler gets stuck in an ATM vestibule with Jill Goodacre (Victoria's Secret Model). She offers him gum. He says no because it wasn't sugarless. He then screams at himself in his head because if Jill Goodacre offers you gum, you take it. He then changes his mind, saying "On second thought, gum would be perfection." I almost said this. I knew that this was my chance to break the tension on the pew. I would not turn down the gum like Chandler had.