Date Lab

She asked for a hot guy who loved soccer; we found a semipro who moonlights as a model. But would he want to play ball?

7:30 p.m. | Jackie's Restaurant | Silver Spring

Amaryllis: I came straight from work. I'm so low-maintenance; I had jeans on and did nothing with my hair. When he came to the table, I thought, "Better than I would have expected." He had a Taye Diggs thing going on.

James: I'm somewhat of a blind date veteran, because I've done the online thing. I wasn't expecting too much. But she reminded me of Charmaine Hooper, a forward on Canada's soccer team. That's a good thing; she's very attractive.

Amaryllis: I ordered a Diet Coke, and James ordered a margarita. I do drink normally, but I have a soccer tournament next week; I'm trying to be good.

James: We talked about soccer a lot at first. I had never met somebody who was as much into soccer as I am, and it's really a turn-on. From what she told me, she's a good player. She said that on one of her coed teams, she's actually the best player. Of course, I thought, "We'll see."

Amaryllis: We actually play in the same league, though in different divisions.

James: We talked about some basic stuff, too. I wanted to know about her background, where she was from, had she traveled. Being from Haiti, I want to date someone who has a global view.

Amaryllis: Travel came up quite a bit. We've been to a lot of the same places, like Barcelona and Italy.

James: I did feel that I had to keep the conversation going a couple of times. And, to be honest, I thought she ate a lot. After the main meal, we had more. I think she kept ordering because it was free. [The Post pays for Date Lab dinners.]

Amaryllis: [For dinner,] I ordered fried chicken and potato salad; he had the duck. Then we split the mini burgers. I'd had something very light earlier, so I definitely ate more than him. But I'm not that girl who orders a salad for dinner. Thank goodness I look fit.

James: By the time we had dessert, we'd been at the restaurant about 2 1/2 hours. If it had been up to me, I would have gone dancing, because it's another of my passions, but she told me her bedtime was near.

Amaryllis: I never make plans to just go out and dance. And it's not that I was intimidated, but he's, like, a real dancer dancer. He teaches courses. I wouldn't want to wing it with him.

James: I drove her to her car, and we exchanged cards. I would definitely go out with her again. But on a scale of 1 to 5, I'd give this date a 3. It would have been higher if she had come dancing.

Amaryllis: We got along well, and he was nice. I'd give it a 4.

Interviews by Kelly DiNardo

>>UPDATE: James attended one of Amaryllis's soccer games; she says they're planning to go out again.

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