Last year I matched with a man on Plenty of Fish who worked as a book illustrator and had illustrated some pretty famous books on some pretty famous best seller lists. I like to think I have a creative side to me (I did a little freelance photography back when and I’ve had a love of the Adobe Creative Suite since 2009) so anyone that has made a living out of the arts piques my interest without much wooing.
We had good conversation so we set up a date for the following night. I didn’t have the time to do my proper due diligence and see what his deal was. I mean come on. I was busy directing operations at a machine learning company. I had far too much to do than to use my work day finding this dude online. And because of his cool job, I even agreed to take the red line to Davis Square from South Station. #MistakeNumberOne
When I arrive he’s handsome, brooding, and I’m pleasantly surprised to find that Five Horses Tavern is hip AF. We sit at the bar and get a drink. Unfortunately and immediately I realize that my extroversion doesn’t match up with his utter lack of a personality. Maybe he’s nervous? Maybe he’s had a long day? Come on Julie, give him a chance… he’s handsome and creative.
From there he takes about 15 minutes to decide what to drink while mostly paying attention to our forced conversation. He tells me how hard it is as a freelance artist and how he’s lived many different lives and how this one is the hardest. He’s dry and closed off and I wanted to leave so badly but he had a full whiskey and mine was empty. I sucked it up and ordered another.
He then tells me how hard it is to keep on a work schedule because of his upcoming move. “Oh cool – where are you moving to?” “Well, my ex and I… well, I mean, we finally just called it. We’ve had a tough go at it but it’s finally over. I need to move out and it’s going to be hard to move out while keeping my work schedule.” “Good for you choosing life and happiness. When was this?” “Three days ago.” “Wait, how long were you guys together?” “Seven years.”
Check. Please.
Dude. You’re completely wasting my time and you’re in no place to date right now. Ugh, no wonder why this date is useless. I finally say I should go and wait for the check. The check comes and it’s $32. I reach into my wallet and randomly have some cash, putting about $13 on the table and saying we can split it on our cards because I don’t have enough cash to cover the full half. He said no worries and that he’ll take my crumpled up $13 and be “more than happy” to cover my $6 difference. I watched him unwrinkle the random three $1 bills I put on the bar.
K cool. Bye. Ew. No. I can’t. Go take care of you.
Pretty sure his Instagram account would’ve shown very recent pics of him and this girl smiling together. Well, if I had the time to find it and check it out. Don’t be like me. #KnowBeforeYouGo
Love and light,
