Date of the week is an online Grazia franchise chronicling the anonymous adventures of those involved in the ever complicated and increasingly unbelievable world of modern dating. To submit your story, fill out the form below.
This week, Lauren, a heterosexual digital content manager, had her bad dating luck hit it's peak…
After 5 years of bad dates and endless apps, I’d become a little disenchanted with dating. But when Rob approached me at a bus stop one afternoon, I thought my luck had changed. I was engrossed in a book, and he walked up to me before politely introducing himself and telling me he couldn't help but notice me and would love to take me for a coffee.
In a world where we spend so much time looking down at screens blindly swiping away at gym selfies and terrible group shots, I appreciated Rob's willingness to rise above it and engage in a real-life connection. I figured anyone with the balls to do that, without coming across like a catcalling asshole, would be good company, so I said yes. I gave him my card, and we arranged to meet for lunch in Central London later that week.
A real-life meet cute followed by a lunch date sounds almost too good to be true, and my friends were convinced it would become a great romance, he'd be the Hugh Grant to my Julia Roberts. Only my life is not a rom-com... just a com.
I quickly realised it probably was too good to be true when we met at the restaurant, and contrary to all rom com folklore, there was absolutely no spark whatsoever. Lunch was pleasant enough, but there was no spark and he came across as a little withdrawn. Things perked up when the woman sitting at the table beside us intervened. She was in London travelling alone, so asked us for recommendations on how to spend that particularly rainy day. I politely engaged, unaware of what was to come.
The bill came and he put his card down. ‘Don't be silly, I can pay for my lunch’, I said, putting my card down. The waitress arrived and picked up my card for the machine, and with a flick of the wrist, he removed his altogether. She put the full amount into the card machine and handed it to him for the PIN only for me to have to explain it was mine. After I'd paid the whole bill, he turned to the woman at the table next to us.
‘If you fancy the British Museum I can walk you there now’, he said. Accepting his request, both of them got up and proceeded to exit together, leaving me aghast. Not only had I paid for this entire date, but he’d actually had the audacity to leave with another woman.
In a not-to-surprising twist given my dating luck, the love rat messaged me soon after asking to see me again. I declined, told him I appreciated his approach and it was lovely to meet him, but I just didn't feel that elusive spark.
‘Yeah well you seemed awkward and weird anyway’ was his eloquent response. And so the dating disenchantment continues.
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