think I can safely say the dinner went well. I had no liquor. I limited my ridiculous stories to ones about the cat. I mostly sat very quietly and tried to seem normal.
No one seemed to notice my initial problems with getting my food into my mouth; there were tomatoes on my plate and somehow I managed not to get them on my dress, and I think I only turned bright red three or four times in the almost two hours that we were there. (This was much better than I thought I would do)
No one asked me why I don't eat meat, which is typically the first thing that happens when a vegetarian encouters food around new people. They did ask how Steady and I met, and I, as though ashamed to admit that I would ever hunt for dates online, sat silently to see how he would spin that one. (He opened by saying I placed the personal and he answered it, which doesn't cast me in the best light, but whatever.)
And otherwise, they really painted me into very few corners. It was very impressive. I didn't even spend the entire time thinking that what I really wanted more than anything in life were a cocktail and a cigarette.
They weren’t as scared of me as I was of them, but the whole group of people seemed to be very interested in making me welcome, so that was good. Somehow they got the impression that I’m vegan, and they were going to go with it. (fortunately, they were corrected somewhere in the middle of an attempt to make vegan brownies)
So, that’s over with. After the nervous wreck I was, I think Steady has the good sense not to tell me if they really did hate me and were just being polite...
