Date 3: Sushi and... What's that Smell?

Date 3 - "Sean"

My date with Sean went well last night! I got there 5 minutes late because parking was a disaster and the restaurant was packed. He was already at the bar, having a beer, with a stool next to him saved for me. I recognized him immediately from his photos and he’s MUCH cuter than the pictures he posted. He definitely has the trendy hair and sideburns (and clothing and shoes) thing going on, but it works well for him. :)
I shook his hand and sat down next to him, noticing a small something that I’ll come back to later – I thought it may have been the restaurant, or the air currents, but… stay tuned.
The host came and brought us to a table in the back of the restaurant and we immediately started chatting while the server got me a drink. The good conversation continued and we were “that table” that still hadn’t looked at the menus until the third time the server came back to see if we were ready to order.
Without getting into the nitty gritty details and specifics of the conversation, it was a good date – we laughed, had nice conversation, lots to talk about. Sean is a fun, and very interesting guy. Jeez… re-reading that myself, I can tell that a “but” is coming. There are two, possibly three, buts.
The first is his schedule – he’s SO busy, I honestly don’t know how this guy thinks he has time for dating, much less a serious relationship. He works 12-14 hour days. He coaches a youth sports team (that travels). He travels for pleasure with “the guys” a lot – both internationally and domestic. I don’t consider myself to be overly needy or high-maintenance, but I’m not sure that this guy has the time to dedicate to the kind of relationship I’m ultimately looking for. OK, here’s the third but – it’s the most shallow, but it’s definitely there. When I sat down next to him at the bar I noticed it… and I noticed it again at the table a few times… and I hugged him at the end of the date and noticed it BIG time. He smelled like mildew. P U mildew. A wise friend who is in the know about the sport he coaches told me that it’s the “funk” smell that goes along with not properly airing out clothes and equipment. GROSS.
I did better on the goodbye this time than my date with Seth last Friday night. After the hug I thanked him again for dinner and said I had a nice time. I ended it with “take care” and we parted ways.
One last thing: Sean also lost points for not walking me to my car, which was down a side street. He asked where my car was, but then didn’t walk me there. What the heck…

Not sure if I’ll hear from him again, but it’s doubtful that I’ll call him. He’s a nice guy, but definitely more of a friend than a boyfriend.