A week or two after her experience with Steve, she received a new follower notification on Instagram. She had recently added her Instagram handle to her dating profiles and had received a few new followers as a result. She checked the notification and saw the profile of a tall, blonde, extremely cute guy. She looked closer and could have sworn she recognized him from somewhere. Though she did live in a somewhat “big” city, the connections between people in that city made it feel more like a really small town. She was sure she had met him before somewhere.
She wanted to message him immediately but thought better of it and waited until the next day. That night when she was swiping on her dating apps again, she got so excited when she came across his profile. She swiped right and it was a match (shocker)! He was 30 years old, so a few years younger than she, and his name was Chad (not actually his real name, but definitely something equally as douche-y).
She had set her age limits on her apps to range between 30 and 40 years old. So 30 was the youngest she was willing to go. She had never been with a younger guy, but her experience with older men (both in person and online) hadn’t been all that great. Steve had been a huge letdown, and the older guys she chatted with online all came off as bitter and resentful. On the opposite end of the spectrum, younger guys hadn’t been jaded by the world yet and seemed so happy and positive, so she decided not to be put off by his age.
The next afternoon on her lunch break she sent Chad a message saying hello and told him he looked really familiar to her, asking if he had gone to her high school. Shortly thereafter she received that absolute cutest voice message she had ever heard. Chad replied to her questions that no, he hadn’t gone to the same high school as her, but explained that he had seen her on one of the dating apps, thought that she was drop dead gorgeous and just absolutely had to add her on Instagram. He asked her about herself and continued dishing out the compliments.
She was blown away. Not only that he was so forward and complimentary, but the fact that he sent a voice text allowed her to “meet” him more fully, for lack of a better term, than she would have simply over text. She messaged him back, thanking him for all the kind words, and they agreed to chat a little later on that day.
That night while she was stoned watching Netflix, she saw her phone light up. Chad was calling her. Who the FUCK calls anyone these days?! Unless it was her mother or her doctor, she never spoke to anyone over the phone. She watched the call go on until he hung up, then he sent her a text right after asking her to call him back and saying that he wanted to chat and get to know her. She waited about half an hour before she went out to the garage to smoke a joint and call him back. She was so nervous. She let it ring six times before hanging up. Hey, at least she tried, right?
The next morning she received a text from him apologizing for missing her call, explaining that he had fallen asleep. They chatted a bit more throughout the day and arranged another time for a phone call; that afternoon after she had finished work. She felt much more comfortable chatting with him on the phone in the privacy of her own car, rather than at home where her parents could possibly hear her.
He called her at 4:30pm on the dot and they spoke for a few minutes. He asked where she worked, and she told him. They then realized that he was literally 3 minutes away from her. All of a sudden, this cute guy she thought she might really be in to was on his way over to meet her. She had a mild, mini panic attack worrying that her appearance wasn’t good enough that day to meet up with a guy.
She hadn’t showered, her hair was up in a ratty old bun, and she had just worked all day so she felt all sweaty and gross. There was no turning back now, though. He was already pulling up to her work. She watched him reverse and re-park his car twice as he called her to tell her he had arrived. She waved to him from her car that was parked in the actual parking lot, not on the road where he had parked, and he started walking towards her.
As he approached her, she realized what attracted her to him. He kind of reminded her of Machine Gun Kelly. She and two of her girlfriends had had an ongoing debate over the last several months over who was hotter, Machine Gun Kelly or Pete Davidson from SNL (the link between them that brought on the comparison was that they had been in a movie together and were apparently good friends in real life). Both of her friends were 100% on Team Pete, whereas she was all aboard Team MGK. It would appear that her type was tall, blonde and skinny.
As Chad approached her, she saw his eyes widen with delight as he scanned her up and down. He hugged her and she just instinctively melted into his embrace. The chemistry was there from the instant they set eyes on each other and any concerns she had had about literally anything, had vanished.
They sat on the hood of her car and chatted. She watched his eyes continue to scan her, and she noticed how much he seemed to be looking at her legs. As they chatted, he gave her knee a sweet li’l squeeze and she felt her stomach explode with butterflies. He explained that he was heading out to meet up with a friend but that he couldn’t resist the opportunity to meet her. He told her how stunning she was and how happy he was that she had messaged him. They each gave a brief rundown of their own stories and made tentative plans to meet up again.
This little meet-cute couldn’t have lasted longer than 15 minutes. Even so, she had butterflies galore and could barely contain her excitement in anticipation of their next rendezvous.