Why is Ana, the writer of this story, giving us a thumbs-up?
Because Ana has written A Bad Case of the Dates's 1000TH STORY! We've sent Ana a $50 Amazon.com gift card to thank her.
We'll have more contests and prizes this year, so stay tuned and keep sending us your stories!
Without further ado, A Bad Case of the Dates's 1000th story:
Story Submitted by Ana:
I met Wendell on eHarmony. He lived in a city about a three-hour flight from me, but we decided to go ahead and get to know each other. Fairly quickly, it transitioned into a serious long-distance relationship. He visited me twice for extended stays, and for our third meeting, I flew out to visit him.
He picked me up at the airport and didn't seem at all glad to see me. His overall tone and lack of any affection (hug, etc.) stunned me silent. Don't forget, we had already spent in-person time on my home turf, so I had a baseline reading on him. I really didn't know what to do or say. We rode to his house with almost no conversation at all.
When we arrived, he suggested that we go for a walk at a nearby college campus quad. But he added, "Your outfits's frumpy, but I'm hungry, so let's just go." This was going south so quickly that I didn't know what to do, It wasn't just a date, but a serious relationship that I wasn't thinking of walking out on just because of an off day... yet.
For most of the walk, he was on the phone with another woman. It wasn't even anything urgent, just general chit-chat for the entire duration. Anyway, we ate, returned home, and went to bed.
When I woke in the morning, I found him on his computer, signed into the instant chat feature of another dating site. I went back to the bedroom, packed up my suitcase, returned and said, "Take me to the airport." He didn't argue, then drove me to the airport and left.
As I had paid for a longer stay, I decided to get a nearby hotel and try to enjoy what was left of my trip. It didn't hurt that Hector, another guy I had formerly dated long-distance (and on whom I still crushed), also lived nearby. I called him up.
Hector seemed genuinely happy to hear from me. He picked me up at the airport and insisted that I stay at his place for the duration of my trip. For my wounded ego, this was exactly the sort of suggestion I needed.
We had a good night together with some of his friends, and although nothing happened between the two of us that night, I was certain that I had made the right decision.
The next morning, I woke up first and found that he was out of cigarettes. I walked to a convenience store and got him a carton. When I got back, he was furious. "Why the fuck did you buy me these? You think I can't afford them on my own? I don't need goddamn charity!"
I said, "I just did it to be nice." He finally calmed down, offered me cash to pay me back, and I accepted it with thanks.
This was to be my last day in the city, and on our way to the airport, I made the mistake of offering to pay for gas for the trip. He fumed, "Again with the fucking charity! You think I can't afford my own gas?"
The stress of the trip finally took its toll and I sobbed my eyes out. He apologized profusely, but the day was ruined and I just wanted to go home. He dropped me at the airport, and we never really got close again. Needless to say, I never communicated again with Wendell.
Ok, what just happened? Sorry, but this is the most poorly written story I've seen on here. Which one got mad at her over cigarettes and gas? Hector or Wendell? Why did she say she never communicated with Wendell again? Did she communicate with Hector? Are they both douchebags and she just has terrible luck with men?
ReplyDeleteI'm so confused...
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ReplyDeleteWendell sounds like a cheating husband. Hector just sounds like an insecure prick.
ReplyDeleteMeg's got the right idea.
ReplyDeleteSo she never found out what crawled up Wendell's ass? Also, I notice she doesn't mention that she never spoke to Hector again, she just "never really got close again". So, what, is she still friends with him? What's the deal here?
ReplyDeleteTwo different guys you have had long distant relationships with in the same general area a 3 hour flight away from you? I call bullshit. Ana obviously set this up with the intent to double dip on this trip. Wendell somehow found out about it, which perfectly explains his attitude.
ReplyDeleteOP here. Sorry, the story had to be edited for brevity, so it does come across as a little confusing. Hector was someone I met in association with online gaming a couple of years prior to these events; it never really went anywhere, though, and we fell out of touch somewhat before this weekend happened. He did visit my city a couple of times after the weekend in question and took me to dinner, but it was always a strained experience (that is, I always just felt he was doing it out of guilt over these events, so I couldn't really enjoy it -- but that may have been solely my issue). I should clarify that he wasn't a jerk; he was a nice guy who just happened to be in a bad set of circumstances (unemployed at the time), so I think he was misinterpreting my actions a bit, due to that. He was not a jerk overall.
ReplyDeleteAs to Wendell, pride prohibited me from following up, and since he never contacted me, either, we never did get it sorted out as to why he behaved like that. My belief is that he was playing the field, and that having me in his area was cramping his style (or something... who really knows?). He was definitely a jerk, though.
Regardless of me being right or Ana's clarification being truthful, someone wasn't respecting the relationship. If people are gonna be dumb enough to get into a serious long distance relationship, it should be respected the same way a classical relationship should be respected.
ReplyDeleteI would love to read Nikki's post to this story and the comments so far... maybe something along the lines of "I see a Nigerian Prince in the OP's future"...
ReplyDeleteThis is why I don't believe in online dating if you live in a city. There are thousands of people to date if you put in a little effort to be social.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with jonaldsons comments. OP seems like a desperate winch.
Wendell is clearly a player and was working multiple relationships while pretending to be committed to Ana and that's pretty clear by his lack of interest in her visit and talking to other women while she was there. Wendell was the one who didn't respect the relationship. Ana was just trying to make something good out of a bad situation by contacting an old friend, which in no way makes her a wench. Sorry your friend was having a bad time.
ReplyDeleteI actually have nothing really witty to say about this date that hasn't been said already. If Wendell didn't want Ana to cramp his style, then why didn't he stop her from taking a long-distance trip to visit him?
ReplyDeleteThe information about Hector being unemployed would have made his reactions to apparent "charity" efforts make more sense. I don't know if Ana edited this post herself or if Jared did, but sometimes, you need to give a little lee-way to the 600-word limit.