And trouble came.  We talked a lot online. But, that just wasn’t enough for him.  Before those three words, he wouldn’t complain about how often we actually got to see each other- just to, you know, hang out. Now, that was almost always the second thing out of his mouth during our instant message conversations. Right after “hello, how are you?” was “when do I get to see you?” Sometimes, he would get me in a happy and chatty mood. Then, he would ask about my plans for the weekend or week.  I, in my happy chatty mood, wouldn’t think to increase my workload by 0.5 percent, but, would admit that I had a bit of free time. And, he would neatly slip in an invite to some event he’d like us to attend or a movie he was sure I’d like.

This man was serious. He wasn’t only convinced that he was in love with me, but that there was no time like the present to be ready, willing and able to begin working on us. He wanted to date. Me.  He wanted me to date. Him. And him only.  He didn’t want anyone else touching me. He didn’t like the idea of some other man making me laugh or sharing any of the things he shared with me. He wanted those dates he saw in movies.  He wanted the normal movie dates.  He wanted the quiet by a body of water  or overlooking some beautiful landscape dates.  He wanted the candlelight dinner dates.  Dates…dates and more dates…. He wanted.

And he didn’t stop there with the insanity. No, whenever I promised to talk to him later or contact him about something, he wanted me to call him, not email or leave offline messages on a messenger service. He wanted frequent calls- even if it was just to say “hello”.  To a woman like me who preferred online dating and was so used to its peculiarities, this was all very new…if not frightening for me.  But, he was so sure that if I kept my mind open and allowed him to discover me and vice versa, I’d begin to feel the same things that he did.

He was so very sure that we could work. And, there was a part of me intrigued with this concept of dating someone face to face, that despite myself and knowing somewhere deep down that this probably wouldn’t work…I decided to try or at least give a thought to trying.

Coming Next: Where’s the manual?!