At the start of the week, Laurie (founder of My Potential One True Love), talked about using JustSingles.com for the first time. Now it’s time to find out what happened when she took her date offline…

It is their face, but just 3D.

Seeing someone’s face 3D is a little weird.  You’ve looked at their pictures – either from Tinder, or POF, or in my case JustSingles.  4 pictures max.   But boy, do you know those pictures! You’ve judged every inch of his face, looking for freckles, wrinkles, and blackheads even; trying to work out – is this man hot?  Is this man going to be my lover?  Is he going to be a freak? Just looking at these 4 little pictures you’ve built up a picture of who he is. But real life faces are a completely different ball game.

You will have talked a bit via text.  You might have talked on the phone even.  And then you agree to see each other.  And then it starts.  You progress onto 3D life.

3D faces are strange.  But occasionally if you are lucky, 3D faces – how they look, how they talk, how they act, how their hands move when they talk, just might turn out to be even better than you had hoped.  Better than those four little pictures had let you to believe.

I guess this happened to me last week.  I met the guy online.  Through JustSingles of course, and we had talked our little socks off for quite a while.  First over the text.  Then we progressed onto the phone.  Then back over text.  Then back again over on the phone.  Hours flew by.  Texts flew back and forth.  But as much as we both kept saying those immortal lines ‘ we must meet up soon’ it hadn’t happened for some time. Until last week.

I walked to the restaurant from the nearest tube and saw him in his car waiting for me.  I waved.  He ignored me.  Then I walked over to his car.  I waved again.  He looked a mixture of confused, and for want of a better word, repulsed.  Oh sh*te I thought- I have made his shrimpy want to shrivel and die.  He hates how I look.  (To be fair to me I had just come from work and was having quite a severe ugly day – thanks God) but JESUS, my first thought was – this is going to go bad.  (We later learnt that this ‘look’ was just his humour.)

He got out of the car, and went to shake my hand.  Talk about formal.  I went for a hug.  We did neither.  We fumbled both.  Awkward moment 1.

He was wearing a suit.  I was wearing jeans.  We walked into the restaurant, up a flight of stairs (he followed me said my arse was “nice” – good arse, sh*t face – LOVELY).   We made our way to the bar where he pulled out my chair and we sat down to make small talk.  Only his small talk instantly consisted of – “Oh sh*t, there is my boss with the guys I work with.  I have left work early to come and meet you.  I need to go and speak to him  I am going to be in trouble.”

So he left.  I sat down alone, ordered the wine and checked my watch- how long till I could leave I pondered? Talk about small world.  We had met at a place that neither of us had been before.  Chosen for its romantic dark light.  Why would his boss be there?  Either way, I was left to ponder these questions alone as he was talking to his colleagues and they were looking at me.  Awkward moment 2.

He came back; we sat down in a nicer table and started to relax into seeing each other’s 3D faces.  He looked nice, but different.  I guess I did too – he said I looked different.  But “nice”.  Another “nice” compliment.

After a glass of wine, the face in front of me seemed normal and the nerves went.  Well for me anyway.  He, on the other hand seemed to be having trouble putting his arm somewhere (guys rest their arms in order to appear cool). At one point he moved it from resting on the chair next to him, to resting it on a candle.  He burnt himself. Smooooth.  Awkward moment 3.

We ordered some bar food.  I binged on cheese.  He binged on calamari.  I binged on another gin.  He binged on mini hamburgers.  The night just flew by for us both.  We talked like old friends.  I liked his 3D face.  I liked his stories.  I enjoyed his time.  I think he thought the same.

Are we seeing each other again? You bet your skinny arse.  We are arranging as I type.

So I met a nice man.  Is it love?  No.  But was it an enjoyable evening for us both.  Yes.  Yes it was.

P.S.  He didn’t have the beard like his pictures showed.  I know – sucks ey.  I was just as upset as you.  I might start subtly nagging perhaps.  That b*tch has got to come back again.  Beards getteth the girls.

To read more from Laurie, check out her blog My Potential One True Love. Or, you can follow her on Twitter!

Until next time, 

The Just Singles Team.