Date from OKCupid, we had been talking for a few days and decided spur of the moment to go out that day since we were bored and had nothing better to do. Picked a spot to meet and she asked me to decide where to go, since she was new to the area and I had grown up here.

She was feeling pizza, and instead of my usual spot (a well known local place that's absolutely tiny but has some of the best pizza around, and a great staff), I took her to a place up the street that I hadn't been to in years, but remembered as being slightly nicer, with a more interesting menu. We got there and the guy behind the counter told us he was new and running the place solo, and all he knew how to do was heat up the slices the last guy had left. That should've been our sign to go to a different place, but it was cold and rainy out, so we decided to stick around.

We sat down and immediately I started realizing how far downhill this place had gone. It was dirtier than I remembered, there were a couple guys rolling blunts in the corner, and a table near ours had a pitcher of beer even though I'm certain none of the kids there were old enough to legally drink. The pizza was fine, I was awkward as hell and super aware that I'd made a horrible choice of venue so I could barely hold a conversation with her. She seemed smart, thoughtful, empathetic, and she was cute, and I knew I had totally blown it, and that's all I could think about. Date ended fairly quickly after we finished eating, and I left knowing I'd never see her again.

We just celebrated the 4th anniversary of that date last week, and she's sleeping next to me in our apartment as I write this, with our cat snuggled up to her. I have no idea what possessed me to even ask if she'd be interested in a "re-do" or what possessed her to say yes, but the second one and every date since has been better. The pizza place didn't fare as well as us, it closed 6 weeks later.