An Adult Story

Out of the many on-line dating services where Peter was a member, he had just logged in to his favorite. He had tried and discarded several sites before he found this one and, almost as soon as he had created a profile, he had been messaged by a really sweet girl. They had gone back and forth in private messages for several days before exchanging personal email addresses. Peter found that, more and more, he was looking forward to logging in to his home computer after work to see if she had written.

If anyone had suggested even six months ago that he look into such dating services, Peter would have been offended. He was the type of guy that never even wanted to accept a blind date because he didn't believe in being "set up" or having other people choose someone that they thought he should date. Peter was quite an introvert and it seemed that people were always trying to find him a girlfriend that would bring him out of his shell. Peter quite liked his shell, thank you very much, and he didn't see how signing up for a bunch of dating services was going to make him feel any better.

It wasn't that he didn't want or like to date. Peter was actually a really nice, sociable guy once he got to know the other person. His shyness just precluded him from asking out some of the girls he had been interested in recently. There was a young woman at the office that seemed so pleasant and easy to talk to and Peter was almost positive she was sending out signals that she would be interested in seeing more of him. Yet he hadn't been sure how to bridge the gap from office talk to personal talk. It was all just very awkward.

Then, while surfing aimlessly one evening, Peter had been hit with a pop-up ad. "Another one of those dating services!" he had groaned, to no one in particular, but when he attempted to close the ad, he missed and actually went to the website. After reading the welcome page, Peter had to admit it seemed intriguing. It just seemed so very "normal" to him. The people looked average - not Hollywood glamorous - and he felt this sense that he might fit in on the site. So, he'd taken the plunge and created a brief profile. That was the night he'd first heard from Mandy.

Peter had only seen one picture of Mandy, so far, and she was rather plain but attractive. Peter admired that she gave him what seemed to be an honest photo and he replied in kind. Everything about Mandy seemed genuine and Peter admitted to himself that he really wanted to meet her in person. He just felt they had so much in common and, uncharacteristically, he was almost aching to have a live, personal conversation instead of corresponding in text. So, tonight, as he again logged in to his favorite site, his stomach was in knots. Tonight was the night he was actually going to ask Mandy on a real date. He didn't give any thought to where they would go or what they would do. All he wanted was to have her say "yes." He knew, in his heart, that nothing would make him happier.