Deja Vu

I was excited about Eddie. In his JDate photos, he was super hot, tall and athletic. Plus, our emails proved that we actually had a lot in common. After about 5 messages back and forth, he asked for my number, which I happily handed over.

When he called me the next night, I was nervous (an actual phone conversation?!), but it went really well, with almost no awkward silences. He said he was going on a trip for work the next week, but he would call me when he got back to set up a date. I was pumped.

A week and a half later, still no call from Eddie. Not one to sit around and wonder, I texted him. “Hey,” I said. “How was the trip?”

The next day, a response: “Pretty dull. How was your week?”

We continued chatting like this for a while, but he didn’t mention any plans for a date. “Do you still want to meet up this week?” I finally asked.

His answer came a couple hours later: “I’ve actually kind of started seeing someone. It’s to the point where I’d feel bad going on a first date with someone new. I’m sorry.”

Well, I couldn’t really be mad at him for that. After all, I’d never even met the guy. But I was confused as to how his relationship had suddenly gotten serious while he was out of town—and I wish he hadn’t strung me along for so many texts.

“No worries,” I said. “Thanks for letting me know.”

“Good luck on the site,” he said.

And that was that.

A couple days later, I was on OkCupid checking my messages (Yes, I’m on two online dating websites.), and I came across a new email from a man who looked very familiar. It was Eddie, using the exact same photo he had on JDate—who clearly didn’t recognize me in my new profile picture.

“Hey,” he wrote. “You seem unique, interesting and beautiful. I’d love to chat if you’re interested. —Eddie”

“Hey Eddie,” I responded. “I was interested and we did chat two weeks ago, remember? I thought you’d started up a relationship. Did that fall through? —Raz”

Eddie never got back to me on that one.

—Raz, 25, NYC