Readers sometimes share their Charlotte dating stories with us. Here’s one of them, as told to the editor:
When Hilary saw Broderick’s profile on a dating app for singles in Charlotte, she was immediately interested. And luckily, he was too.
The two matched and began chatting about a potential time and place for their first in-person meeting. They decided on a post-work date and met around 8 p.m. at Idlewild, a popular cocktail bar in South End.
“The date wasn’t great, but I’ve been on worse,” Hilary, 23, told QCity Metro. She said Broderick, 24, was friendly, and his conversation was “decent.”
But overall, she wasn’t impressed. “He kept talking about sports, and I’m not into that, so I was bored.”
A peek at the bill
Over about an hour and a half, they ordered a drink each and talked about their jobs, how long they’d been in Charlotte and how the dating scene was going so far.
“The chemistry was lacking,” Hilary admitted.”I mean, I could feel it; he probably could feel it, but the date was fine. It wasn’t great, but it was cool. We didn’t have a bad time.”
When the bill came, the server gave the check to Broderick. He paid, gave the server his card and then he got up to use the restroom.
“When he got up, I leaned over to see the amount. It was $30,” she said.
When Broderick returned, Hilary said she could feel his energy shift.
“After he got back, we got up to leave,’” Hilary said.
She said she leaned in for a goodbye hug once they were outside, but it didn’t feel right.
“It seemed like he didn’t even want to hug,” she said. “You know when someone doesn’t want to hug, and they don’t really lean into it? It was like that.”
Then, Hilary said, Broderick looked at her and said, “ yeah, so I didn’t feel the vibes on this date.
“I can send you my cash app or Apple Pay,” Broderick went on.
“So I’m thinking ‘what the hell is wrong with this man,” Hilary said, recalling her feelings in the moment. “He really wants to split $30? On a date he invited me on?”
Walking away
Hilary said she doesn’t remember whether she actually said no or simply looked at him in disgust and walked away, but either way, she said, he followed her.
As Hilary left the front of the bar and began walking across the street toward her car, Broderick was close behind, calling out to her loudly.
Hilary said she felt uncomfortable and unsafe, so she briefly turned around and yelled, “please stop following me.”
“I felt like I needed to get the hell out of there,” she said.
After that, Broderick, appearing embarrassed as others began to look their way, retreated and turned in the opposite direction.
Request for funds
Hilary then got into her car and headed home. Five minutes later, she received a text message from Broderick.
In the message, Broderick referred to Hilary as “down bad” – a euphemism for impoverished, needing support, or in a dire circumstance – and then sent an Apple Cash request for $30 as reimbursement for the date.
Before she could respond, he sent her two more messages. Broderick called her “mentally unstable,” expressed he didn’t want to spend money on a date he didn’t enjoy, and then said he would be blocking her.
Hilary ignored the payment request.
“What do I look like paying a man for a first date? He didn’t even ask for half; he asked for the whole thing. It was insane,” she said.
Hilary said she and Broderick never spoke again and haven’t seen one another since.
Hilary is still single and datin’ in Charlotte. She said Broderick is likely still waiting for his $30.
A guy BEGGED me to go to his dad’s birthday dinner with him. I said no because I had already ate. He kept asking, so I finally gave in. By the time we got to dinner, I decided to have a drink and appetizer. He asked me to pay for the food and drink! I never spoke to him again!
One time I asked a lady on a date and she said yes, but when I picked her up she brought out her friend who she had a crush on and asked me to change the plans to taking them to get matching piercings. I died on the spot.