The first time I went on a date, it failed. I was unwise and ignorant of certain principles of dating. I failed to adhere to the advice I was given beforehand, simply because I was blinded by love and thought I "felt better." Basically, here and now, I will be sharing about my first love experience.
Okay, I should be honest with myself and say I didn't know what actual love meant until a couple of years ago, when I met someone who showed me just what it meant. Prior to that, I just jumped in and out of any ship that started with an "r." On one of those ships, I learned a lesson.
I was in secondary school at that time. It was in the days of the reign of 2go—some social media platform we were crazy about then—that I met this lady of interest. Or, rather, let me say "reconnect." We used to be classmates in primary school, but then went to different secondary schools and met again after five years.
We became close for the very first time when we met again. She practically hated me back then in primary school, and that was because I wasn't the best class captain in her books. I used to put her in trouble, and she never really deserved that. As far as I can remember, she was always hanging out with the real troublemakers then, but that's not our story for today.
We met again and then put our differences, as well as the ugly past, behind us because we were good friends. We became best friends, in fact. And then, you know, with my small, empty coconut head, I started to develop feelings for her. She felt the same way about me too; at least, that's what I thought. And then the day came when I asked her to be my honey bunny, and I was her sugar in her tea and the cockroach in her cupboard. However, it was over text messages. How fascinating, innit?
We started the relationship, and it continued for a while until I asked if we should meet up and see each other for the first time in five years. Yes, we hadn't seen ourselves since primary school, and somehow, the relationship happened and worked. Or so I thought.
She agreed that we should meet. I suggested an eatery around our towns. It was located right between the towns, so I thought it was pretty convenient for both of us. My mother, however, advised her to come over instead. My mother thought we'd be more comfortable and wouldn't need to spend money on the meet-up. I disagreed because, well, I had ulterior motives.
Here's where I learned my lesson
We agreed to meet at noon. I don't remember the exact day, but it sure was a convenient one, as we did agree on it. I just didn't think I would be learning a lesson instead.
As a guy, I got there early enough. You know, as a gentleman, I didn't want to make a lady wait for me. The thing, however, was that I didn't want to just enter the restaurant and sit. I hoped she'd be on time, so I thought I'd wait a few minutes outside, as she did tell me that she was almost there.
Okay, I was pretty shy about sitting in the eatery alone. I was a kid, and I felt pretty weird sitting all by myself and having much older people look at me. That's why I thought to wait outside instead.
I said noon, right? Yeah, I waited for another thirty minutes. Then I called again. She told me she was just going to take a motorcycle and join me in a few minutes. That's how I waited for another thirty minutes, again.
After waiting, I called again. This time, her number was unreachable. I know that you already know what is happening at this point, but I didn't at the time. I was still playing the "gentleman card" and thought I should wait again, thinking her phone went off on her way. I waited for another thirty minutes or thereabouts, and that was when the security men walked up to me and suggested that I wait inside for whoever it was I was waiting for.
Yes, I was actually standing outside in the blazing heat under the ever-yellow sun. I was that gullible, I know. They had actually asked me to wait inside before, but I was still too shy to go in and wait. I agreed this time.
After waiting a total of two hours and thirty minutes, I realized exactly what it meant to be "stood up." Of course, the relationship crumbled like the wall of Jericho right after that. It turns out I had been dating myself all along. I had just been missing the red flags. Quite heartbreaking.
It may or may not be a big deal of an experience, but it was my first anyway. I learned to, you know, not be too blinded by feelings and understand the signs.
So, that's a wrap on my dating chronicle for today. Thank you for reading.
