Playground Love

So, with the arrival of 2010 I decided to try "dating." I had never dated before. I met Travis when I was 14 and we broke up in August of 2009 when I was 20. We had been on and off and I'd dated other guys for a short time between then, but they were always guy friends. I'd never really been on a date with a guy I hardly knew.

Until Nick put me on a dating site. Now, Nick is my roommate and best friend. Nick is gay and took to online dating to find the very very few gay men who are his type that are in the area. I swear there are ten gay guys in this state, and that's it. So anyway, he's met some pretty great guys and it's been nothing but a positive experience for him. For me, I always thought it was something desperate 40 year old women did. I never thought a 20 year girl would find anything decent.

Oh boy was I wrong.

He made me a profile on a site that I will not name because part of me is still embarrassed about the whole thing. But dammit this entire thing has been a crazy experience for me. So, I figured I'd give each guy his own post. Why not? Starting with.....

M.
M was the first guy who messaged me and holy shit was he cute. He had this one Gregory Peck-ish photo. I wanted so badly to not care about his personality and just date that photograph. M and I talked for hours every day, via Yahoo. We never spoke over the phone and I didn't have his number for two months.

The problem was, he thought I was some arty nerd (and I'm not denying that) and that was not his thing. He wasn't my type either, he listened to Metallica and played Madden on his Xbox all day. He was 24 but felt 34, all he wanted was to settle down. We couldn't carry on a conversation that wasn't dirty. We just had nothing to talk about but sex. Only talked though, he was a virgin and planned on staying that way until marriage. I respect his decision completely, but it's not a decision I would ever make.

After a couple months I suggested we finally just meet, to hang out. He agreed. I drove 45 minutes and met him for sushi. He was even more attractive in person except for his flip-flops and baseball cap. I wore black skinnies, a mustard yellow cardigan and a slouchy white v-neck. We looked so out of place together. After his overtly religious conversation and hearing him trash me for being atheist for an hour, I figured I'd just quit talking to him. It was never going to work.

Every now and then we have random, awkward conversation. I have no idea why.

-Air