In bed with a politician

I met Mike a few weeks back on connexion. He asked me if I want to go to a Jesse McCartney concert with him on Monday night. I politely turned down his invitation. He told me he messaged me because my profile had more substance than most guys and the variety of music I like. Everything stays very basic- who are you, what are you here for, etc.? I get a message from him yesterday morning asking if I wanted to go to on a date last night. I told him sure, even though he is not my type. He is 24, 5'4'' (no problem there), latino (no problem there), 150lbs, 6'' uncut (hot), and the whole pretty boy, queeny look going on is not my thing, but I am not going to discriminate. We decide to meet about 6:30 after he goes to the gym. A few more texts and I'm at his place at 6:30 as planned.

First red flag (as I learned from The Guy with his whole red flag system in dates)- I called him when I arrived asking where to park. He texted me as I was leaving a voicemail and he told me in the text to enter the second gate of his apartment complex. I drive up and don't have the code, so I text him. He tells me, "no silly, park on the street." Fine. Done.

I am wearing blue jeans, a black skin-tight long sleeve Banana Republic shirt, and black classic Vans as I walk up to the door. He is wearing a gray Ed Hardy shirt with blue rhinestones and black Ed Hardy shoes with white crossbones. We shake each other's hands. He asked if I was going to drive, or him. I said it didn't matter. He gets his keys and we wander around his apartment complex looking for his car because he didn't know where his roommate put it. He calls his roommate, yet he didn't pick up his phone for me when I called. Not cool. Ok, so we're in the car and he tells me about his monster commute. I ask what he does and he tells me he drives around a lot for a living. I ask more- what does he do and things like that. He doesn't really say. We chat some more about if I had trouble finding his place, and I didn't. I tell him I've lived in the area my entire life and pass his street on my way to work. We arrive at the mall a few minutes later. He needs to stop at the ATM in the mall, so we park. In the lot he tells me about all the drivers and things that annoy him while driving.

We decide to go to PF Changs instead of Yardhouse. We have to park real far away and on the way over he talks about how he always parks under trees so he can find his car. We have 90 minutes to wait for dinner. So we go into the mall and walk around. He asks me what stores I shop, and I tell him. I shop Banana Republic, Express, Macys, GAP, PacSun, Tillys, sometimes a few others. He shops MetroStation and anywhere that sells Ed Hardy. We go into H&M and he tries on blazers. He asks for my opinion and the gray one he has on. It looked good. We go into a small store that sells Ed Hardy where he picks out a dozen t-shirts to try on, and jeans. He decides to buy one of everything he tried on. It comes out to $157 and he realizes his wallet is in the car because he doesn't carry it in his tight jeans. He had cash and put $20 down, then did the rest on layaway. While we were there he asked if they had a McCain shirt. He takes heat from a black guy in the store who says that he knows he is probably not conservative on all issues. He admitted just fiscally.

It was in the time we left the store and the time we stood outside of PF Changs where I found out more about him. He is going to school solely online and studying political science. He told me he is a politican and has actually run for local office. Name was familiar before he mentioned this, and I knew it. I remember seeing his campaign signs all around town about 3 years ago. He ran for the position right out of high school. He told me how he was a Republican and he is working for a high profile person in politics in the area. He told me about his aspirations. I knew who he works for and he told me that even though it is obvious he is a gay guy, his boss is accepting, though his boss is Republican. He told me who his boss was, and I knew who he was, as well as is views on several issues, so that made for good conversation. His boss views him being gay, supporting yes on 8, and things like that as a good thing in a very Republican area. We talked about the really corrupt member of the House who represents the area. I talked about meeting him and how it was a strange experience because my dad is a big opponent of him. It made for good conversation. He told me that his office staff has a very high turnover rate, he routinely fires anyone who even somewhat disagrees, he is told by advisors to do this, but if they differ from what he wants to do, he fires them. He told me that this guy knows he is corrupt and doesn't care because he'll always be elected. I talked about the recent November election and how he was within 5,000 votes of losing, and had it not been for Orange County he would have been out of a job. He just said it was an easy win, that he really didn't have any competition, so he didn't have to try too hard to win. I disagree, but wasn't going to fight because there was no reason. He told me he was impressed I know so much and I'm one of the few people he has ever been able to talk to about things like that whom he doesn't work with.

We are called shortly to go in the restaurant. He tells me he used to work at this PF Changs between political jobs, then managed Beach Bums several years ago, and things like that. All of the waiters knew him. We had GREAT service. Second major red flag came during dinner when he received not 1, not 2, but 3 phone calls while sitting at dinner, and answered them all. The first was his friend who is going to the concert with him. Second was his boss, then the third was someone in his office. He is on a bunch of committees and a member of a lot of organizations. He is organizing the Young Republicans in this city and there is a big fundraiser he is handling that he was talking about while on the phone. He told me this when he got off. I just sat politely.

We ordered our lettuce wraps and entrees. I ordered the chicken with black bean sauce and brown rice. He tells me how he doesn't eat red meat, only seafood, how he used to be fat and wear size 38 jeans. He uses Hydroxyzine and only drinks Crystal Light. I ask him more about his online schooling, how that works. I tell him how I'm looking at a credential program that is solely online. To find out the sheer amount of work- a 10 page paper each week, you can write total BS, the big thing is the citations in the paper being cited properly, but it is easy for him. I told him how that's how the program I was looking at was described, so that was nice to hear his feedback and opinions. He just needs the degree and he already knows the subjects. We chat more about little things- hot guys in the restaurant, work, school, family. He is adopted and has 3 sisters. About halfway through the entrees the talking just stops. I try to make small talk and carry the conversation when this happens. I ask about music and things like that. He only listens to stuff on KIIS 102.7. There were still moments with lots of silence. When we get ready to leave he thinks one of the waiters is gay that is new there. He asks our waiter, his friend, to go over and ask. He said for him to get him to come over if so. He said no, he was straight. The waiter had been trying to figure him out too. Mike wanted to split the bill between us so we each paid for what we bought- not half and half. To make things easier I just said both of our meals are almost $15 a piece with the appetizer split between us, so let's pay $17 or so a piece to make it equal. He insisted on calculating it so we each paid the same amount in tip, then that we each paid for our own thing. His was $14.30 and mine was $16 and some odd cents. Then we each left $2.50 in tip. He said it was the Republican in him. Red flag 3.

We decide we want to see Shopaholic, so we go over to the theater and he is again texting on the phone. We see it isn't playing, so we go back to his place. We go in his room and watch "Dead or Alive" on the TV in his room. Cheesy movie. We lay on the bed, first at opposite ends, but after some blood, we ended up cuddling in the bed and I put my arms around him and held him. I really enjoyed that. Shortly after the movie ended he fell asleep in my arms. He wakes up a few minutes later, then says that he needs to get to bed. I acknowledge it is late, as it is 12:30, and take off. Again, as I say goodbye and thank him, it is only a handshake.

Oh well. Lesson learned. Meet guys I'm interested in.