Because before the « they all lived happily ever after » one needs to start with « Once upon a time »…
Hark people ! This is my version of the story (long version), with my point of view. If you ever want the boy’s point of view, ask Thomas.
Everything started in August 2011 when a Bridget Jones in the making (me) realised that she is fed up with spending her night time reading Jane Austen’s novels alone in her bed with her big cat as unique companionship. On a whim, the Meetic1 enrolment becomes reality.
At the beginning, I don’t have much criteria, but some of them matters : applicants should live in a 100km radius around Tours (the city where I studied), must not be allergic to cats and must not smoke. No, no, no, I would never date a smoker ! If possible, I would prefer a man without children and someone who masters French (some introductions like « hey, woud u be interrest in havin a drink wth me ? » have been tossed upon the garbage heap of history without any regret). After few days, I’m contacted by a guy who seems quite charming. His name is Stéphane, he’s an engineer at EDF (French electricity provider). We plane to meet and have a drink together. Two days before the said rendez-vous, my body gives me a prophetic sign : I wake up with a generalized nettle rash crisis. It will last 15 days and obvioulsy, going to a first date in that condition is out of the question ! During these 15 days Stéphane (who seems sceptical about the reason I gave him to cancel the date) goes on vacations. I’m not really disturbed and I realised that my meetic profile has been seen by LDMBatman (geek ?). The profile picture is not repulsive and he took the time to answer my « quizz » and had quite a good score. Hence, I answer to his invitation to come and chat on the forum. I learn that Batman’s name is Thomas, and that he is an IT. We talk about little things and, after a couple of days , we decide to meet in real life. The date is planed at the beginning of a Sunday afternoon of September, in the city of Blois. I doll myself, even put make up. When I arrived in Blois, I find out what my date looks like : Thomas, with his hair unstyled, unshaved and not really well dressed… well. I try to not show that I’m not that taken by the first sight. On his meetic profile picture, he was wearing a suit for work so obvioulsy the reallity doesn’t bear the comparison. Later (few weeks later) he will confess that he came to Blois making a detour on his way from Le Mans to Poitiers… As the weather is nice, we si tat a pub’s terrace and the tragic event occurs : Thomas brings out a cigarettes’ pack. HE SMOKES !!! Gauloises in addition ! Ouch ! This date starts quite bad ! I have to confess myself : had he smoked no-filter Gauloises, our story would have stop right at this moment ! We start talking. I mean : I talked. I talk a lot. I fill because Thomas doesn’t talk much. We finish our drinks, and leave to have a walk. We pass by the castle and I show him the dragons of the house of magic (because now I know how much he likes these little creatures, I probably scored a point at this moment). At the end of the walk, we sit on the big « Denis Papin » stairs. I talk so much that I even explain who was Denis Papin. Twenty minutes later, some tourists ask us to make a picture of them. « In front of Denis Papin’s statue ? » asks Thomas. The tourist answers « Ah ! One can say you’re a true Blésois2 ! » Yeah sure !…
Nonchalantly, the afternoon is over. It’s almsot 6pm and Thomas ask me to stay and go and eat together. Drat, I don’t want to stay. A short mental arithmetic makes me realise that I have already used all possible conversation topics and I’m afraid the evening may be long. And… HE SMOKES ! I decline the diner with an excuse that must smell mouldy 20 kilometers away : « I can’t. My mother is alone tonight for diner and I swore I will diner with her » (a simple call and my dear mommy would have been happy to know I dine outside). So we go back to the cars without planing any second date. I drive home. My mother asks me, she wants to know everything : « so ??? »
My answer : « He is nice but I don’t think there will be a second date. Besides, he smokes ».
1 Meetic is a famous French dating site.
2 Blésois is the name of the inhabitants of Blois city.