Found myself at the usual dive bar tonight, but there was a very interesting addition to the usual crowd in the form of a 6'1" dark-haired beauty from Atlanta. I heard her talking to the others at the bar almost as soon as I walked in—it's hard to miss that accent—and snickered when I heard somebody say the word "Alabama." She was practically offended at the implication, and I laughed, because anybody who knows southern accents at all can easily tell a Georgia accent from an Alabama one, and I joked with the crowd she had gathered as I walked past that they should be careful with such comments, because those can be fightin' words.

I spent a little while talking to some friends and later found myself next to this girl as we were both headed out for a cigarette. While I hadn't planned on sarging at all tonight, I found myself charmed by her rather unique (for this geographical area) personality, and we seemed to mesh pretty well. I played it a little cool, made jokes where warranted, but otherwise didn't do anything particularly special, just acting like myself, which apparently seemed to do enough to charm her. She commented that she liked my beard, which caught me a bit off guard because it's not generally something that women comment on, and I think I may have actually blushed at the compliment. Not the finest of responses, but I guess my aw-shucks behavior was more endearing than I thought.

She expressed amazement at the fact that the bars close so early here, stating that it isn't uncommon in Atlanta to have a bar be open until at least 3am on a weeknight, and commented that she didn't know what she was going to do at 1am when she knew she wasn't able to drive yet. I mentioned to her that I could take her to one of the local diners and we could get a bite to eat, and after asking me if I was a gentleman ("absolutely," I said), she said it was a great idea.

We laughed about the various differences between the south and here (apparently, they do hash browns at their diners, while we tend to do homefries), and I made sure to ask the waitress if they served any grits (not on the menu, but yes). We chatted about some rather nerdy topics (patent law, which her sister is studying up here in law school, and copyright law, both of which I'm a little fascinated with) and headed back so I could drive her to her car.

As I started my car, a song started playing by the band Something Corporate, one of my favorites, and she lit up like a Christmas tree. I expressed surprise, as I don't know very many people who are even familiar with the band, but she knew the words and everything. I said "Well, if you like these guys, I'm going to have to get your number." She looked at me a little funny and said "Well, I was going to make sure you got it anyway."

Got to her car and I parked while we took care of the phone logistics, and that semi-awkward moment arrived where it was obvious we both wanted to go in for the kiss, so I simply went for it. A short makeout session later, followed by a little break and then another one, and I verified she was okay to drive and then headed home quite a bit more pleased than when I left to go out tonight.

EDIT: She texted me when she got back to her sister's place, thanking me for taking her for food, and I thanked her for the company, saying that it's not often I get to have an actual interesting conversation about patent law without inducing yawns. Her reply was "Well I'm full of surprises." Not wanting to miss an opportunity to be a little playful, I texted back, "I'll have to find out what some of those surprises are." Her response: "Well stick around then boo :)" This is important, because in my AFC days I never would have tried something as forward as that, for fear of coming across as too, well, too something. But here's a note for you AFCs out there: we had already made out. We were already in a situation where being playful and forward is a welcome thing. If you find yourself in a similar situation, do not be afraid to push the envelope a little bit.

TL;DR Met a cute amazon from Atlanta, chatted her up, bounced to an insta-date at a local diner after the bar closed, and had a makeout sesh in my car before dropping her off.