Lone Ranger

I haven't written about this until now for two reasons. The first being, I wanted to keep it to myself for a while. The second being, he's pulling stupid-idiot-man-shit behaviour and you all know I can't not talk about that.

I went back onto Lava around the end of June. I figured since I wasn't meeting guys in real life, then I should at least get back online. This time though, I went in with the attitude that I will smile at everyone I thought was cute, but I wouldn't lose my shit if they didn't smile back.

I smiled and smiled and smiled and smiled. And nothing. And I was fine.

I smiled and smiled and smiled some more. And then I got a nibble from LoneRanger1972: 37 years old, lives in Oshawa, never married, no kids, freelance journalist, editor and PR guy. He sent me a nice email and our correspondence began.

We sent emails back and forth every couple of days over the course of 3 weeks, until one day he asked me for my email and/or phone number. I happily obliged.

He sent me an email soon after. And then a phone call that same evening. That call lasted almost 6 1/2 hours. Wowza. We covered a lot of ground, including my disastrous marriage and subsequent divorce.

And much to my surprise, he called me again a few days later (4 1/2 hour talk), asking me out on a date. We had our first date on July 31st. And as far as I could tell, everything went swimmingly as the date (which lasted 5 hours) ended with a smooch.

He said he'd call me after I got back from Fort Erie for the long weekend. I emailed him when I got back to town and then didn't hear anything from him for 3 days. Which made me cry. For real. I know it was stupid to get worked up over it, but the fact that we had over 11 hours of talking time and 5 hours in-person time clocked already, I was thinking this guy may be a contender.

He finally emailed me apologizing for the slow response time. He was busy with work. Okay, fair enough, he is a freelancer after all. We made plans for Date #2 - dinner and a movie.

Date #2 went extremely well, as that ended with a mini make out session on the corner of Yonge & Eglinton. I invited him to see my band play - Date #3.

My band played this past Saturday night. He showed up at the end of the first set and stayed until the show was over and we had finished tearing down. He smooched me goodnight and said he'd call me the next day.

Sunday came, and he called! And asked me out on Date #4 for that night. Movies again, which is awesome for me because that is my favourite thing to do.

So I'm standing in the lobby of the theatre at exactly 6pm, which was the prescribed meeting time. At 6:10pm I got a text saying he'll be late, well after 6:30pm which was the start time of the film. "Something came up that I couldn't get out of."

Okay fine, shit happens. I texted him back and said I'd be at the Firkin pub up the street from the theatre getting something to eat.

I grabbed a beer. Then I ordered food (shepherd's pie & veggies). Then I ate my food. Then I finished my beer. Then I got my bill. Then I paid my bill. And I was just about to leave when he finally showed up. ONE. HOUR. AND. FIFTEEN. MINUTES. LATE.

He looked sheepish walking in. He said hello. I simply asked, "What happened?" He launched into a long story about a very important agenda item being missed by him, which the client required before Monday morning. So he had to get it done, but it was a really tedious task. So what he thought would take him 20 minutes turned into 40 minutes, and well, that's why he was late.

Fine. I forgave him. He kissed me and sat down. Then I watched him drink a beer and eat chicken fingers & fries. I helped with the fries.

Instead of catching a later movie, I decided we should go see my bass player in a jazz trio playing at Gate 403.

We grabbed a few drinks, snuggled, held hands, and smooched a bit. All was fine again.

He dropped me off at the subway station. We had a full on make out session in his car. I liked the way he was kissing me. It was nice, not gross, and not sloppy. We said goodnight and he said he'd call me.

I sent him an email when I got home thanking him for the nice night out. No response (he's got a blackberry, so no excuses).

I called yesterday and got his voicemail so I left him a message. Hasn't called me back.

So here's the part where I lose my fucking mind. And here are the things that bug me.

1. When we talk, it's 90% him, 10% me. When I try to interject, he keeps talking. Methinks he likes the sound of his own voice, and he really loves using his extensively huge vocabulary, being a journalist and all.

2. He was late for all our dates. But none as spectacularly late as Date #4.

3. He's never offered me a ride home. I know he lives in Oshawa, which means he has to travel east of where we've been on dates, and I live a teeny bit west. However, he should mind that his lady friend gets home safely.

4. He has a funny walk. (I know, I'm just being petty at this point.)

5. When he says he'll call, it's daaaaaaays later. But when I'm not expecting anything, he bombards me. Case in point, Saturday morning. I was in the shower getting ready for an audition. I came out and there was 2 text messages on my phone. I went to dry my hair, came back and there was a voicemail. I put on clothes & makeup and checked my email before leaving, there was one from him. Huh zuh! Where is all this communication when I want it????

Does this guy actually dig me, or is he passing the time? Or is he completely clueless and that's why he's still single? Or am I expecting too much?

Oh, and I hadn't been on Lava since our 2nd date, but was curious today to see the last time he was on. Answer: yesterday, when he should have been fucking calling me back.