We’ve all had them – perfect dates that turn into days of waiting for the call that never comes… Brief encounters, Liz Frost calls them
Have you ever had one of those dates? You know the ones I mean. It’s perfect from the start. He turns up looking gorgeous, makes you laugh, takes you out dancing, by the end of it you’re finishing each other’s sentences before he delivers you home safely ending the evening with a perfect kiss on your doorstep (or if you’re lucky, your lips)… and then never contacts you again.
I call this a Brief Encounter (BE). For the first two days after the date, you’re dancing on air. For the third you’re mostly glued to your phone and so on and so forth until you slowly realise that for whatever reason he’s never going to call. Ever.
My friend Mel had a BE last week. His name was Tim and she’d spent the whole week regaling us with tales of her perfect date. She was so confident he’d call that she’d even started referring to him (in close company – i.e. Rachel and me) as her boyfriend (a rookie mistake). Unlike the rest of us, who’d been through the BE many times before, she was positive there must be a legitimate reason for his lack of contact.
“Perhaps he’s lost his phone, or accidentally deleted my number,” she said hopefully. “Or maybe he’s been in a terrible accident.” Not wanting to burst her bubble, we nodded, stroked her arm encouragingly and told her he’d probably be straight on the phone when he got back from his trip/finished visiting his sick gran/his leg was out of plaster.
As Mel left the bar, we looked at each other knowingly. Our words of encouragement had soothed Mel’s anxiety, but we were still sure he wouldn’t call.
“So why do you think he didn’t call?” I said to Rachel. “I don’t know.” She said. And we simultaneously sighed into our wine. Mel is attractive in a girl-next-door way, bright as a button and what’s more, she’s a real hoot. If her date wouldn’t call, then none of ours would. That’s the thing, despite our joint extensive BE experiences, we were still none the wiser. The BE crept up on us all like an evil alien. In fact at times, we’d jointly wondered whether all our good dates had, in fact, been abducted by aliens. Was there a planet up there full of decent blokes all wondering if they’ll ever see ‘that great girl they had that wonderful date with’? Maybe they’re all up there now sipping their pints and sighing into the ether: “If only they knew the truth!”
Anyway, Mel’s BE eventually did call and it turned out he hadn’t been kidnapped by aliens like the rest of them after all, he’d genuinely been ill with food poisoning having had the mussels at their perfect meal. Unfortunately for him, after their second date Mel thought he was ‘too nice’ and never called him again. I wonder if he thinks she’s been abducted by aliens?
Liz Frost is a freelance writer specialising in features for women's magazines. She writes for Company, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Zest, B, Bliss, She, Female First and NW. Email her at liz_frost@yahoo.co.uk, even if it's just to say hello!
