I half expected him to not turn up. Or for it to be a stitch up.
After 4 days of messaging pretty much non stop and getting to know each other I was so excited to meet him. My heart was racing, my stomach full of butterflies, my head completely distracted with thoughts of him.
I hadn't been on a date for 9 months after bad luck and feeling like it just wasn't for me anymore.
I had pretty much given up on the idea of meeting someone, and the thought of dating again petrified me.
In fact, I didn't really expect to be going on a date.
My intentions, when I signed up to Tinder, were simply to get a bit of attention from matches but that was it.
No number exchanging, no personal information, no getting my hopes up and NO DATES!
Until I saw him.
Other than full on fancying him just by seeing his photos, something intrigued me about him. I tapped the tick and my heart sank a little when I didn't get the "It's a match" notification.
Nevermind, I thought, I'm not here to date so maybe it's for the best. Besides, he would probably have a dull personality and not be someone I would click with, I told myself to try and feel better. It's silly isn't it, how not being told you are matched can feel like instant rejection.
It was weird, I couldn't get this guy out of my mind and almost considered deleting the app to reinstall it so I could find him again and use my Superlike for him in a bid to grab his attention.
Then again, I wasn't there to date so that would be a waste. And besides, I wanted to grab his attention for being me rather than hunting for it.
Then........I got a notification.
IT'S A MATCH.
I had obviously seen him before he saw me which was why there was no instant match.
I'm not that awful after all.
I found myself looking at his photos all over again.
Making the most of it until he would unmatch.
Using my "fuck it" for the day I messaged him. He wouldn't reply anyway, which wouldn't matter because you know, I wasn't there to date.
What the........he replied.
He.
Has.
Replied.
Remembering I wasn't there to date and reminding myself of my experiences last year I didn't get my hopes up.
Surely within half an hour he would be inappropriate and the conversation will be dead.
Which would be fine. I wasn't expecting him to be perfect, and nothing was going to happen.
And you know, I wasn't there to date so it didn't matter.
I accidentally broke my no number exchanging rule, my no getting my hopes up rule and my NO DATES rule.
And I'm so glad I did.
Three days after we started messaging we were driving to meet each other.
I tried so hard to not have expectations. But I knew what I ideally wanted. To fancy him just as I did from his photos, for him to be as chatty as he had been in messages and for him to be as funny as he had been.
As we got out of our cars and he greeted me with a massive hug and kiss on the cheek and immediately showed a confident and relaxed personality I just knew this was going to be an amazing first date.
Something just felt so right.
Four hours of laughing. Laughing so hard at times that I had to beg him to stop as my tummy was hurting and I couldn't breathe.
Holding hands on the beach, talking, feeling like I had known this man for a lot longer than I had. Feeling so comfortable in his company and like I didn't want the time to ever come to an end.
I couldn't believe my luck. Surely he wouldn't want to see me again?
The end of the date proved me wrong and as we made plans to meet 3 days later and got in our cars to go our separate ways I sent a text to my mum.
"I could easily fall in love with him."
And almost 7 weeks on...I was right.
I feel like the luckiest woman to have met someone like him. To have met someone who is everything I asked for.
To have him to call my boyfriend.
I did easily fall in love with him.
And I'm so glad I did.
