The Canadian Guy

Last fall I went out on a few dates with a guy who had recently moved to D.C. from our northern pal, Canada (I'll call him Granola). Granola and I met for lunch one sunny afternoon in October. We discussed art and literature over salads in Dupont Circle and then walked over to the Phillips Collection (one of my all time favorite museums). Granola and I hit it off right away and seemed to have very similar interests. Not only was Granola well read, he enjoyed going to museums and art galleries as much as I did. And he didn't seem to mind the fact that after we left the museum I couldn't remember what street I had parked on.

I noticed Granola seemed to be a fairly private person, which I can respect. I tend to be on the private side as well (which sort of goes against the fact that I write a blog about my dating life). I learned Granola was a teacher and rented a house in northeast. He decided to join a dating site upon moving here to try and meet people. I asked if he had a roommate and he said that he did, but didn't offer any further details about his living situation. Hmm...a little fishy.

We proceeded to go out 2 more times. I was really enjoying Granola's company, but there was something that bothered me about him that I just couldn't put my finger on. We had great conversations, he was very easygoing and cute (even if he was a tad shorter than me..but at this point I have ALMOST come to expect that from internet dates), but by the 3rd date I still felt a little disconnected from him.

On this particular date, Granola and I went to dinner at a Thai restaurant and then for a drink at a bar across the street that had recently opened. Granola told me all about his days of being a cross country traveler and opened up about his family. With each beer, intimate details of his life started pouring out of his mouth. And then came the kicker.

"So, I actually moved here to be with my girlfriend, but as soon as I moved in we broke up."

I KNEW something was up!

"Oh, so SHE'S your roommate." I said, starting to put the missing pieces together.

Granola then started rambling on about how they had been dating on and off for years, but had never lived in the same place and he decided to move to D.C. to see if they could make it work, blah, blah, blah. But now he realized it was over and he wanted to find a new place to live, blah, blah, blah.

At this point he told me how he really liked me and was waiting for the right time to tell me this.

"Uh huh, well, this IS good information to know," I muttered in between sips of wine. Now I was over it. The last thing I needed or wanted was to deal with ex-girlfriend drama.

He sent me a text later that evening about how he would like to see me again, but nothing ever materialized. As soon as he mentioned the details about his ex-girlfriend and their history I lost interest. I mean, who wants to date someone who still has a lingering situation with their ex?

A few weeks later I was working a weekend brunch shift (I hostess part-time at a restaurant downtown) and low and behold who walks in? Granola and the 'ex'. I was so caught off guard I almost dropped the huge stack of menus I was holding. He made a quick introduction (I did happily notice she was a tad mousy looking). We happened to be really busy at the time and didn't have any available tables. They ended up going somewhere else and I was left wondering if he had remembered that I worked at that particular restaurant and stopped by on purpose or if it was just a fluke. Regardless, I was on to the next non-Canadian guy!

Score: 1 point