What’s in a Name?

Every kiss begins with pizza.

This story is from Dee, a 25-year-old fashion planner in NYC, as told to Raz:

After a long night out with my girlfriends, we all went for pizza. A cute guy at the table next to me introduced himself. I was a little distracted by the drunken deliciousness of my slice, but I managed to also keep up a chatty conversation. Before we walked out, he asked for my number. He seemed a little guido-ish for my taste, but I’m from Long Island, so it was nothing I  couldn’t handle. I gave it to him.

The next day, he left me a message: “Hey Dee, We met last night at the pizza place. I’d like to take you out.” He never said his name, and that’s when I realized I had absolutely no clue what it was.

I called him back, hoping he was one of those guys who said their names when they answer the phone—or that I’d get an identifying voicemail. He picked up, I agreed to a date, and we scheduled a time. No name.

When the day of our date rolled around and I was still clueless, I thought up a master plan. I asked my coworker to call him from her office number. Hopefully, she’d get a voicemail. If not, she’d say, “Is this John?” He’d be forced to say, “No this is [insert real name here].” She’d claim to have the wrong number; he’d hang up and be none the wiser.

Of course, it went nothing like that. He picked up. She panicked and asked, “Who is this?” He thought she was some kind of maid service he’d called, she panicked again and hung up. Epic fail.

I thought about cancelling. But I’d just gotten out of  a long relationship and really wanted to get back in the dating game. That night, I went out with the no-name guy from the pizza place. He took me to Ace Bar and we went straight for the Big Buck Hunter game. I smelled an opportunity. I put my name in the game first, and I spelled it out carefully—first name, middle name, last name. Hopefully he would follow my lead. Instead, he dubbed himself “J Amaze.” Fail again.

The rest of the date actually went fairly well, and I was feeling good as we walked back to my apartment. When we got to my doorstep, he kissed me. It was nice. Then he said, “You know, it’s still early. Can I come up?”

Now it was my turn to panic. First of all, I was still getting over my ex and felt no where near ready to be alone with a guy in my bedroom. Second of all, I didn’t know his name!!!! I apologized, explained something about my 4-year relationship and bolted inside, leaving what’s-his-name alone on the stoop.