Cakeboy.

We were closing up shop at the bookstore last night. I was straightening up the business section, and Poli Sci Guy, who'd stood next to me at the registers all day talking about all the restaurants he'd seen in Atlanta and different things he'd done there, walked past me.

"I was thinking of getting some dessert," I said. "You know, birthday cake. You wanna go?"

"Dessert?" he asked. "Maybe I could go."

"I was gonna go to that diner on Piedmont and Roswell," I said. "If it's someplace you haven't been, then you could kill two birds with one stone. They've got good cakes there. And their banana creme pie is famous."

"Well, it is your birthday," he said. So he changed his plans, and we headed to the Landmark Diner.

And I thought to myself that I was pretty cool, asking that way. But, as with most social outings, this, I knew, wasn't a date.

Poli Sci Guy talked a lot about his book, which is this cool, political thing. Apparently, he's been involved in politics since he was 16, and he's got a couple really great insider anecdotes.

Also, I found out that he once won a contest and appeared as an extra on the last episode of "Baywatch."

But, in terms of our ability to vibe with one another, it wasn't there. He's friendly and all, but he's not, I guess, particularly interested in much I have to say.

He's a cool guy, though, and it was nice of him to join me for birthday cake.

And he says he's not gay.

I did ask Poli Sci Guy that. And his answer was unnecessarily complicated.

He said he considered himself "straight but not narrow." I asked him to clarify, saying that "straight but not narrow" usually referred to gay-friendliness and open-mindedness.

Poli Sci Guy said that sorta was it, but that he didn't feel comfortable calling himself straight. Then, he told me it was a difficult question.

I was all, "Why is that a difficult question?"

I'm still not entirely sure why it was a difficult question. I mean, it's a yes-or-no question, essentially.

After a bit of discussion, the subject got changed.

I think I started talking about my impromptu, possibly stupid trip to Alabama, telling Poli Sci Guy that - even though nothing happened - I just did it so that I could be the sort of person who didn't just talk about taking risks.

Black hasn't called me in regard to my trip to Alabama. With any luck, he's not checked his messages all weekend and consider in flattered bemusement at some point later in the week that I happened to be in his town.

Somehow, I don't know. I don't think that's how it's going to happen.

He told me a long time ago that I couldn't do anything to scare or alienate him. He knows I'm sorta crazy. And he must see the inherent "dare to risk" motivation behind it. And, in our past conversations, he's respected that mindset.

Anyway. I'm overthinking Alabama.

But everybody has their boundaries, I've found, and I manage, either purposely or not, to test them.

Still, the trip to Alabama is funny enough that it doesn't leave me completely regretting it. I mean, I think it gives me something to write about. And it jazzes up my birthday, which is today.

I just wish I knew how Black felt about it.

Next time I feel like doing something crazy, maybe I should try housework.

So anyway, it's my birthday, and I have no set plans. I'm doing lunch with Dad. I may do coffee with Mark before he hits the rodeo. But, after 5 p.m., I have nowhere to be, and I've already seen all the movies I'm even mildly curious about. I have only finished the rough draft of my resume, which Marley has volunteered to help me post online.

Thanks to Lupo, though, and to the lovely people at Best Buy, I've got DVDs to watch so that I can ignore anything else ... like housework.