Internet dating can be fun, exciting and has definitely become an accepted
way to meet new people. I have had numerous internet connections, met
some very nice and interesting men, but a few of these were disasters if not
down right scary! This particular story is about the scary one!
I have decided to arrange each one of these encounters as a chronicle, which
will then be followed one after the other in separate stories. So, In order to give
you some insight on what I have learned, what I expected as opposed to what
was said prior to these meetings, and the end result. I will refer to each of these
dates based on his location, and not his real name.
This particular date was with a guy called "Chicago", who had the very nice
Chicago accent, and a real Chicago phone number, so naturally I believed he
was from Chicago. When we first spoke, he told me he was very interested in
moving to New Mexico (where I am at) to purchase some fixer upper homes,
in order to invest in the real estate rental business. Everything sounded normal
and he really seemed like a nice guy over the phone. We talked for a couple of
months and finally decided to meet. During these conversations, it was established
that we were both interested in a LTR, and so the arrangement was that he would fly into
Albuquerque, New Mexico from Chicago, for a total of 3 days. He purchased
a flight/hotel/car package and I would travel 200 miles from my hometown to spend the
weekend with him in Albuquerque, providing all goes well.
In a bit of a last minute gut feeling, I decided to persuade my mother and sister-in-law to
accompany me on this trip, drop me off at the airport to meet my date, and they could go
shopping while me and my date met in person for lunch. If all went well during the lunch,
and I felt safe enough to continue the date, then my mother and sister in law could go
ahead and return home that evening.
So there we were in Albuquerque, arriving 30 minutes late to meet Chicago at the airport.
He called me on his cell phone from inside the building, and I told him I was wearing a
blue shirt, my mother in red, and my sister in law in white. We didn't even realize it, but he
was standing within 12 feet of us, while we were on the phone asking for his whereabouts!
As we approached each other, my mouth fell open and then to the ground as I looked at him,
and he was nothing like his photo! He appeared at least 20 years older, was way thinner,
(almost fable looking) and I literally got taken by surprise. After a quick introduction, he
whisked me away to the airport tram to go pick up his rental car.
As he was at the counter
obviously showing ID and credit card verification, I noticed that his HUGE luggage had no
airline tags on it. I also noticed that he was taking quite a long time at the counter, which
shouldn't have happened if his flight included all of this with his package. I am still in shock
and having second thoughts at this time, but out of guilt that he came so far, I could
at least go to lunch with him. The rental car had to be the smallest, worst choice I had ever
seen! I offered to drive, since I knew my way around Albuquerque much better than he did,
but he said that because I was not listed on the rental, I couldn't do the driving....huh? Well,
I accepted that as a fact and went along. No sooner than 15 minutes into the driving, I
noticed he seemed very familiar with his directions, and "with out a map!" We had lunch
in the historical district, visited the church and some gift shops, which I noticed he only
purchased 2 key chains ( the cheapest thing in the store!) Now, if you are on a little trip, and
as far away from home as he was, wouldn't you consider something a little more of a memoir
than a key chain? Questions started pouring into my head and everything started to feel like
a ploy! After lunch, I called my mother on my cell phone to meet them in the parking lot of
the shopping mall they were at, to get my overnight bag.
I was really having feelings
in the pit of my stomaches at this point and should have just called it off, but what the heck,
I am an adventurer, and I knew this guy couldn't man handle me, after all, I could literally just
pick him up and throw him based on his looks and body weight! Chicago drove without
incidence to the shopping mall, which astounded me that he still needed no map! We got my
bag, and I exchanged some "looks" with my sister in law that said-"YIKES", but I went ahead
and said they could leave, and I would stay til the next day. After all, this "date" wasn't
suppose to cost me anything and he was to drive me back to my hometown the next day!
The next destination was to the hotel, which he informed me was in Rio Rancho, a town outside
of Albuquerque, and I wondered then, why they would choose one so far away for a package deal.
Once again, doubt crept into my mind. We arrived at an older hotel, he goes inside to get the
keys to the room, but takes the keys to the car!
