Sitting down in the very fancy and newly opened restaurant, I was looking forward to a good night. I had tried to turn a blind eye to him wearing a vest on our second date; and, despite only drinking the same amount as me, he had seemed somewhat intoxicated on all our dates , staggering about. But I had soldiered on, hoping things might improve. I mostly enjoyed his company and he was a talented artist, which appealed to my love of creativity. Sign up to The Hook-Up and we'll slide into your inbox every week with all the latest sex and dating stories from Metro.
We can't wait for you to join us! I was there for work purposes and felt utterly embarrassed by his freeloading. Inwardly, I was seething at his pure cheek but after a while I mentally talked myself down and tried to relax. He ordered another bottle of wine and offered to pay for it, saying it was the least he could do, which seemed reasonable. I am a very compassionate woman, but I was cringing when he started crying at the table. A conversation about his cat โ taken by his ex-wife following their divorce โ prompted tears as I tucked into my reasonably priced pasta and he ate his expensive Wagyu beef.
Mortified, I gently explained that people around us would think he was crying because we were having a public blow-out and asked him to pull himself together โ but still the tears flowed. After he went outside to vape, I texted my friends complaining he was an idiot โ but there was more to come. The waiter went off to get the card machine, but in the time it took for him to return my date suggested, to my complete horror, that we just walk away without paying โ despite the fact I was representing a company and our meal had already been free.
I asked him if he had been drinking before we met and he got defensive and told me he had only had one drink โ which I struggled to believe.
When he finally paid and we went outside onto the street I told him in no uncertain terms to do one and walked off to call an Uber without even seeing his response. As I was driven away I could not believe how the night had unfolded. He was apologetic, saying he was going to get professional help to get his drinking under control, and it seemed heartfelt.
