Readers sometimes share their Charlotte dating stories with us. Here’s one of them, as told to the editor:
Melissa’s stomach growled as she parked on the street outside Optimist Hall. During the 20-minute drive over, all she could think about was was food — home-cooked food.
Melissa, 25, and Trey, 28, had been talking for a few weeks, after connecting on a dating app, before they finally set a date to meet in person.
“I want to cook for you,” Trey offered. “Come over and we’ll have wine. And I’ll cook.”
Though her general policy was to avoid going to anyone’s home on a first date, the promise of a man cooking for her from scratch was pretty alluring. So, she shared her location with a close friend and took the risk.
‘It’s not delivery, it’s…’
When Melissa entered his apartment, the combination of hunger — she skipped lunch in anticipation of Trey’s cooking — and excited nerves set in. She had shared with Trey that she was vegetarian — it was even in her bio on the app — with the expectation that his culinary skills would be both as impressive as he said and plant-based.
Trey accepted the challenge and vowed to cook a meat-free meal.
As she took a seat at the bar in his kitchen, Trey removed the meal from the oven.
The from-scratch meal he’d promised her wasn’t exactly what Melissa had guessed it would be. Instead of a Tabitha Brown-esque masterpiece, Trey presented her with a pizza…covered in pepperoni.
And to add insult to vegetarian injury, the pizza was “made” with the help of DiGiorno. Trey might’ve turned on the oven, but he didn’t actually cook a meal.
Melissa was instantly disappointed, but didn’t show it. “I didn’t want to hurt his feelings,” she recalled.
She politely reminded him that she was vegetarian in hopes that maybe he had something else planned for her. Trey replied, “oh [expletive], I forgot about that” before sitting down next to her to eat.
She awkwardly sipped a glass of wine he had offered her earlier as Trey happily ate his dinner.
“He just sat there, eating in front of me and it was just so weird,” she said.
But she wanted to give Trey a chance anyway.
After he finished eating, they talked and played a card game.
According to Melissa, they were having a good time and she was beginning to enjoy his company. She had even begun to forget about the earlier “awkward” meal experience.
“Then it took another turn,” she said.
‘Like a light switch went off’
Melissa found that Trey had a really good sense of humor. She described the connection between them as “really light and kind of fun.” It wasn’t until she, while laughing, said “you are so stupid” in response to one of his jokes.
He immediately stopped laughing.
“It was like a light switch went off,” Melissa grimaced as she recalled the moment.
“Please don’t call me stupid,” he said, stone-faced. “Don’t call me stupid.”
According to Melissa, his demeanor and body language changed. The light, humorous energy they’d had before was now completely gone. Trey suddenly seemed cold and distant; she was reminded that she didn’t know him very well and she started to feel uncomfortable.
As they quietly finished the card game, Melissa told Trey that she needed to leave to prepare for work the following day. He said “okay.”
She left his apartment, walked over to Optimist Hall and finally ate dinner.
Melissa says Trey reached out to her a few times after their date, but she didn’t respond.
If you have a Charlotte dating story — whether good, bad, or in between — we want to hear it. Send it to us at editor@qcitymetro.com with “Datin’ Charlotte” as the subject line.
Read more Datin’ Charlotte stories here.
