#58

As I have such an affinity for meeting new people, I found someone on Craigslist that was apparently from Chicago and was relocated to London for 6 months. He did say he was looking for a friend to go travel with so he can split the costs of the hotel and keep it low... which wasn't something I was prepared to do but messaged anyways...

The first suspicious thing was that he was looking in M4M (Men for Men) section. Which is littered with penises and abbreviations for words only an internet gay would know such as - bottom, dominating, dominated, submissive, black, asian, good-looking, very good-looking, no string attached, and one night stand.

The second suspicious thing was he was never all that talkative on Skype. Much similar to the days when I used hang in chat rooms and converse with socially awkward geeks. He supposedly worked at Canary Wharf and lived there as well. He also wrote poor sentences like ,'Hi, what are you?' and response in '???' when I write 'I am a human.'

Seeing the above conversation as an example of how well we conversed, we hardly knew each other. But it turned out he went to Italy a lot for work and one day out of the blue, he asked me if I wanted to go Italy. There were so many reasons to say no I didn't know which to tell him. But I stuck with,' I haven't even met you! You wouldn't want to go on a trip without knowing that person at all! What if I am a completely crazy person?' (meaning what if he was a completely crazy person, which he soon showed he was...)

So yesterday he asked to meet for coffee today at 5.15pm. Apparently he had to do an interview at the Starbucks on Wardour St., which was in Soho, the gay area. (Which my gay friend later told me that it would be impossible it was an interview, rather it was clearly a date. 'Come on, an interview at Starbucks? In Soho? Its a date,' he said.)

He sent me a pic that night, indicating him wanting a pic of me. Though I am hesitant on sending pictures online (a mixture of self insecurities and closet heydays) I started looking for a picture to send before my internet crashed. I sent him a text explaining my internet and told him I would see him tomorrow to which he said okay.

5.15 rolls around and I messaged him to see if his interview was finished. Which he didn't respond to. Now I hate to walk into a Starbucks and look for a stranger, so when I got there I hesitated at the front and rang him. To which there was no response. I then realized there were two Starbucks on Wardour St. so I thought I better head on in and waste no time. I went in, and in the manner least obvious as possible, scanned the room. No one.

I quickly left and went for the 2nd Starbucks. I went in and the first thing I noticed was a scary looking old man sitting by himself. Now the place was full, but he stood out to me for some reason. I lined up and I scanned this slightly bigger room this time. Still unable to shake the weird old man in my mind, I rang the guy, spy style without having the phone to my ear. Paying close attention to who might pick up. No one.

I got my coffee and left, joining my friends at yet another Starbucks to explain this epic failure. After an hour, I got a text from him telling me he was sorry he didn't know there were 2 Starbucks and asked where I was. I wrote to him that I was with my friends now, and I asked where he was. But before I even sent the message he rang me. When I picked up, he hung up. Guess I had my own strategy played back on me. Only he couldn't have seen who I was since he was not at the right Starbucks. He didn't respond, and after an hour I sent him another message, asking if we are still meeting. No response.

The real fun begins when I saw him on Skype after I went home and had a quick but powerful conversation with him... Which I will write out after... need to do work...