Girls' Night Out

Okay, so here's how my day went.

Clint had to work overtime tonight, and I miss him terribly.  On the plus side, I got to spend the day with Carolyn.  Here's the story.

Carolyn said she'd take me grocery shopping after Haley's game tonight, which meant I'd go about seven thirty.  However, Haley hurt her knee on the playground at the park just before her game started.  Trooper she is, she played almost all five innings of the softball game (the league is for seven and eight year olds, so we only play five innings) before her knee hurt her too bad to play.  Directly after the game we dropped off Miss Jolynda (Carolyn's mom) and Kayla (Carolyn's younger daughter) and the house, then took Haley to the ER.

We were actually only in the ER for two hours; the fastest I've ever been at the ER.  But when we were done I decided I was hungry, so I treated Carolyn and Haley to dinner at Applebees.  Actually, I wanted to go to Buffalo's, but they were closed (you'd have to eat there to believe the awesome food).  So while we were eating, Haley kept looking across the restaurant, twisting her body this way and that to see better.  Curious, Carolyn finally asked what she was trying so hard to look at.

As it turned out, there was a guy way over on the other side of the restaurant that she thought was cute.  So Carolyn and I both craned our necks to get a look at whom she was scoping.

Not bad taste for a seven year old.

Carolyn and I couldn't resist giving her advice on flirting with him, and we convinced her to walk by him on her way to the bathroom (she walked all the way around the restaurant rather than walking the fifty feet the easy way), but didn't give him ga-ga eyes like we suggested, or wave, or smile.  Matter of fact, she barely looked at him.

Carolyn stalled her in the bathroom while I ran over there and asked the guy if he would smile and wave at her when she walked out.  I know, it was a dirty trick, but I thought it was hilarious.  Anyway, he did!!!  Right after she passed him on the way back, she ran the rest of the way around the restaurant back to our table, jumping up and down.  She said, "He waved at me!!"  So I asked her "Really?!  No!  Did he smile at you too?"  And she said, "Yup, he thinks I'm pretty.  I'm prettier than you are!"  (Which I heard several more times throughout the meal and then another dozen or so times after we left.)

So when the waiter came back to our table and asked what was so funny (we'd been on friendly terms thoughout the meal), I told him.  At this time Carolyn was back and she filled him in on all the details, failing to mention that I had him wave at Haley so she wouldn't find out.  Then, SURPRISE!, the waiter informed us that the guy had just got off his shift, and that he worked there!  So our waiter knew him.

You need a little background information, I suppose.  Haley has this big crush on my husband, and she's constantly writing love notes (which I think is absolutely adorable).  So I got the idea that she should write him a love note, and the waiter happily gave her a pen and paper to write him one.  It read (and I quote):  "Hi.  I am Haley.  I am 7.  A friend of yours told me you are 17.  I think you are hot.  Can I get your number?  Love, Haley."  Then she folded it over, drew a big heart on the outside, and wrote "Nice body" underneath.  She gave it to the waiter, who delivered it to the guy, whose name was Will (or William, whatever).

And that's not the best part.  After he read the note, he walked back into the kitchen, where Carolyn and I imagined he was blushing in private.  But we were wrong!  Oh, how we were so wrong.

He came out a few minutes later and started walking towards our table.  Haley was more than mortified, and almost quite literally dove under the table, refusing to come out.  I don't mean she squirmed and inched her way under, I mean she made a flying leap under the table.  It was so funny!  Then, when she was reluctant to come out, he crouched down to look at her under the table.  She scrambled up on the other side, next to me, in the corner, and looked out the window.  Carolyn and I couldn't control our laughter, try as we might, and we asked why she wouldn't talk to him.  He handed over (this is so sweet!) a cup of ice cream to her, and she took it, started eating, but refused to look at or talk to him.

He was absolutely nice and considerate at all times, and didn't placate or tease her in any way.  Matter of fact, if she had been several years older, I'd've thought he actually had a crush on her, for all the consideration he was giving her.  He said, "What?  You can write me a note but you can't talk to me?"  Then, when she still refused to speak, he said, "Well, I must say I'm flattered.  I've never left a girl speechless before."

After a little more prodding on mine and Carolyn's part, and still no reaction, he said, "Well it was very nice to meet you, Haley," and walked back to his table.  As soon as he was gone, Haley became a mass of energy, going back to rattling on about how good he looked, checking him out again, and generally everything she'd been doing before, constantly proclaiming that she was the prettiest of the three of us, "Even you," she said to me.

After that, she was the epitome of arrogance, talking about how her boyfriend was better than mine, and that she was going to dump Clint for William as soon as Clint got off work this morning.  Now she's pestering us to go to that Applebees more often.

Oh, and the cutest thing, too.  You know how some places have those balloons printed with their logo that they blow up with helium and stick around the establishment?  William had a guy take the day's balloons down and bring them over to Haley.  She fawned over them and kissed all seven of them when we got in the car.  I promised her that when they didn't float anymore we'd take a pin to them and let them deflate so she could save them and put them in a scrap book.  If you try to do it while there's still lots of air or helium in them, they'll just pop; but if you let them sit a couple of days, then take a pin to them, they'll deflate.

Then we blared the radio and sang to the music (something I rarely enjoy) and generally had a good time discussing her new boyfriend for the rest of the evening.  It was a great girls' night out.

-Ave