Random Esquire

I reached for my phone this evening to call RandomEsq. Imagine my disappointment when I realized that no one was going to answer.

I don’t remember if there was a specific post about how we met…I think we kind of left it as one of the many mysteries in this anonymous blogosphere. And I think we did that on purpose because honestly, how many people want to admit that they met online? Yeah, yeah, we met online, but not the way you’re thinking – I’ve never even been to Match.com. No, we met because we both have cute little wrinkly dogs, and I was relatively new to the city, so we got together for a drink one night to talk about our cute little wrinkly dogs, and, well – here I am!

That night, by the way, was easily the best date-that-I-wasn’t-sure-was-a-date-until-we-were-making-out I’ve ever had. Just saying.

So speaking of dates, I’m curious about a rather odd trend among my male friends – specifically the shy, kind of awkward but genuinely great guys. The stereotypical “nice guys.” The two I’m thinking of are both very smart, sweet, great listeners, the whole deal, they’re just not so great at the flirting. They’ve had girlfriends, they’ve been in love, they’re not socially inept by any means. But they’re the ones you’d see sitting quietly in the corner of the party, content to watch everyone else get wild and paw at each other while they smile, sip their drink, and kind of wish they had the nerve to jump in.

These are also, apparently, the kind of guys who are invited on all-expenses paid trips overseas to have no-strings-attached sex with women they barely know.

About a year ago, guy #1 and I met for lunch, and he looked unusually giddy. Giddy with a dollop of perplexed. He had met a lovely woman at a friend’s party, and they’d hit it off and had been emailing and talking on the phone regularly. The catch was that she lived in Australia, and was only in town for a few weeks. The perplexed giddiness was that she’d just offered to fly him to Australia for a weekend, get carnal in her beach house, then part ways with no commitments.

About a month ago, guy #2 and I were chatting about relationships, and he mentioned that he’d recently run into a girl he’d known in college. She had the hots for him back then, and was apparently still hoping that they could hook up. However, she lives in northern California, he lives in the Midwest. The solution? They’re spending this weekend in her friend’s penthouse in Dubai. She paid for his ticket.

All I’ve gotta say is, score one for the nice guys.