So in continuing with my online dating escapades I again have to reiterate that my favorite thing about the website Tinder (the only online site I’ve been using throughout this time of trying to “get back out there”) is that both parties involved have to “like” each other’s profiles (which are basically just pictures) in order for any communication to occur. And even after liking someone, and swapping messages, at any time that you decide you aren’t feeling the guy, you can unmatch them and voilà- no more messages! So one afternoon of playing the swipe game (you can go through like 20 guys in just a matter of about a minute) I happened across probably the hottest guy I had seen on Tinder yet, so of course I swiped right, and was super ecstatic when I saw that we had mutually liked each other! But there is something about me and super hot guys, I feel like they are out of my league, so I don’t usually bother sending my typical first message (the ultra-creative “Hi! I’m Katie!” message- patent pending, you can’t steal it!) because of my fear of rejection.
However, about three days after we had matched on Tinder, I received a message from Hot Guy, him telling me I have a beautiful smile, and thus began a series of message sending back and forth in one evening. Late in the evening he asked for my phone number, stating that he preferred to text, which is my favorite as well, and we began texting early into the morning. He seemed very interesting, and witty, and like he had his stuff together, so when he asked me to meet up for a drink a few evenings later, I jumped at the chance. He suggested we meet at a restaurant called BJs for a drink because it was in between where we both lived. I was definitely nervous to see him because from his pictures- as I mentioned- he looked gorgeous, and he had revealed several times that he thought I was utterly beautiful, making me concerned that he wasn’t looking at the same pictures as I. But hey- everyone has their type, and maybe I was just his.
So at 8pm we met at the restaurant, he was sitting at the bar already, and he stood up to give me a hug in greeting. He looked AMAZING- nice jeans on with a v-neck t-shirt, showing off his tan, muscley chest (he was very fit), he was about 6’2″ to my 5’2″, dark hair, great smile with perfect white teeeh- I almost couldn’t believe he was real. I told my friend later, a fellow Bachelorette fan whom I watch it with practically every week, that he looked so much like Josh M. from Andi’s season, so I’ll include a picture of Josh M. so you can get the general idea of what I was facing on my date.
So that’s what he looked like. SO HOT! We hugged, and sat down next to each other at the bar, and he opened up his mouth for his first sentence to me in person and he said….I can’t remember what he said actually, because I was struck by the fact that he had the most feminine sounding man voice I had heard in awhile. I don’t want to say that I had my first inkling at that moment that I was on a date with a gay man, but when he ordered a Cosmo at a restaurant that is known for brewing their own beer, it certainly didn’t help matters. And during our “date” there were several other times when I really questioned if he had made a mistake when he had found me on Tinder, or maybe he was just trying to find to find a straight girl friend, and not girlfriend. Here are some of the things we talked about that made me concerned:
- He told me he didn’t have a lot of close guy friends, for friends he usually looked for girls;
- He loves to dance (though I did find out he was from Miami, FL, so maybe that explained his penchant for tans, his good fashion sense and love of salsa dancing);
- He told me that he was glad that Tinder seemed to be about meeting people who wanted relationships, unlike Grindr, which is a site for gay men (which apparently is used for a lot of hook-ups? I’m not sure about that- he seemed to be more informed than I about Grindr);
- He told me his job was as an entrepreneur (which is also what Bar Guy told me he did- are there that many guys in Cbus hoping to find the next big thing?) but the thing he was really wanting to start-up was a haunted house downtown in the Short North. Okay, that doesn’t prove anything, I just thought it was weird (he also told me that he would want to hire me to be a super hot zombie);
- Clearly he was super into looking good and personal grooming- I don’t want to be stereotypical, but how many straight guys look like that? Also he did admit to me that he waxed his chest and got spray tans on the regular.
- One of the most telling signs- he asked me if I had fake boobs. I’m not afraid to admit I’m a 34B, so clearly I’m not fake. “Thank goodness” he said, “I hate fake anything, but especially boobs, they feel gross. But honestly, I’m not much of a boob guy”. Shocking I thought to myself. And then he actually followed his statement up with “I’m not much of a leg man either”. I’m guessing he was an ass man.
- When Hot Guy got up to go to the bathroom, the bartender asked me if we were on a date. “Interesting”, he said when I told him that we were. So it wasn’t just me that thought so.
To this day, I’ll never know for sure if I was on a date with a gay guy or not, but the whole time we were together, I kept thinking how I would like to set him up with my friend Ray. Hot Guy did mention how he moved to Cbus for a girlfriend, so maybe he isn’t even sure. But when he asked me when we walked out to our cars if he could come back to my house and “snuggle”, there was no amount of hotness that would have made me agree to that.
