Birthday Sex?

by Nicholas Allen — September 27, 2007

Last night was Patricia’s birthday—made infinitely grander thanks to the advice I received from some of my Wired Berries readers. I was (as you know) pretty worried that I might buckle under the pressure of pulling off a perfect—or near-perfect—birthday so early in Patricia’s and my relationship. But the night couldn’t have been better...

I’m big on surprises, so Patricia had no clue as to where we were going or what we were doing. She worked very hard at trying to get the information out of me, even going so far as to finally say, "If you don’t tell me what we’re doing, then I won’t know how to dress."

"Just aim for casually dressy," I told her, and left it at that.

I arrived at her door at 6:30, flowers in-hand. Patricia looked absolutely incredible, and I couldn’t help reflecting that this was the woman who’d been so concerned that she might not look or dress appropriately for whatever I’d planned.

We started out at what friends had assured me was the best Indian restaurant in the city, which had the further advantage of not being too far from the theater where I’d purchased tickets for a show after dinner. I’m not much of a fan of Indian food (I think I mentioned here once how much I despise curries), but Patricia’s exclamation of, "I’ve always wanted to try this place!" made the whole thing worthwhile.

Perhaps the only disappointment of the evening was the play we went to see after dinner. I’d bought the tickets because an actress I know Patricia loves was one of the stars. Sadly, as sometimes happens, the play didn’t quite live up to the talent of its cast. It wasn’t horrible, but when Patricia turned to me at intermission and said, "You know, it was so incredibly thoughtful of you to bring me—and I don’t want you to think I’m at all ungrateful—but would you mind if we left before the second act?" I couldn’t help but smile at how completely in synch we were with each other.

"Great minds think alike," I replied with a grin.

So we wandered around Hell’s Kitchen for a bit, ducking into trendy bars and a wonderful little dessert place, where I slipped the waiter a few dollars to put a candle in Patricia’s chocolate cheesecake and drag the rest of the wait-staff out to sing "Happy Birthday" to her.

Of course, the best part of the night was when I dropped her back off at her apartment. "Are you familiar with the phrase 'birthday sex?’" she asked, pulling me inside with her...