Balance.

I broke my streak of one date wonders and agreed to a second engagement. I got my hair cut and I even painted my nails which should indicate the seriousness of this occasion.

He arrived promptly upon my doorstep clutching flowers. I wonder if my expression of bewilderment betrayed me as I tried to muster an enthusiastic "thank you so much, you really shouldn't have, no really it's not necessary". It's not that I don't like flowers and it's not that I have never received them before, though it has been a while, it's just that gestures like that baffle me. I prefer my relationships agreements to include a no gift clause because it keeps the score so much more even. I redeemed my uneasy conscious by sneakily paying the bar tab later.