Timon of Athens

Anyone remember that Internet Date I went on about 2-3 months ago?  (Yeah, I'd kind of forgotten about it too).  When I got out of my gym session this morning, I was surprised, although not unpleasantly so, to discover he had texted me to say he had a spare ticket to "Timon of Athens" this evening at the National Theatre, and would I like to join him?  It was kind of random from a guy I hadn't heard from in so long (when he'd suggested we stay in touch, I just thought he was being polite), but why not, eh?  So I texted him back to say I'd be delighted, and we agreed to meet at the theatre for a pre-dinner drink at 7.  

I met up with him at 7pm, as agreed upon, and at first it was a reminder of all the reasons we hadn't quite clicked.  Slight awkwardness and a mild disconnect as we made polite conversation before the play.  He has this strange tic of shrugging his shoulders in response to things and saying, "Eeeeeh", which I found kind of weird.  He also told me that he was moving to Sydney in 6 weeks, which I thought exciting and so we chatted about that for a while, along with his regret about having to give up his lovely flat.

 It was funny, as he already had a drink, but went with me to the bar for me to get one, and when we got there and I asked for a glass of wine, I glanced at him to question what size glass I should get (as in how much longer would we be drinking?)  When he said, "large", the bartender then said, "That's very generous of you, sir", now implying that he was going to pay for it (which had not been my original intention.  After all, we were not out on a date, right?)

But now it seemed awkward to pay, and luckily he did step up to pay, so that kind of dealt with that bit.  But he suggested that we get a bottle of wine from the bar upstairs to have during the interval, and so I insisted on paying for that one.  £18, and then I felt like at least I was pulling my weight (and he didn't protest that one!)

We went in for the play, and when I also mentioned he needed to let me know how much I owed him for the ticket, he protested that it was his treat, but I still felt glad that I'd asked.  As I caught a glimpse of the tickets and saw that they were only £12, I didn't feel too badly about that.  

The play, "Timon of Athens", is a Shakespeare play about a guy who is very generous to all of his friends, but ends up sort of giving all of his wealth away, and so when he needs to pay his creditors, he goes back to all of his supposed "friends" to ask them for help, and he finds that nobody will answer his plea.  Some friends they were!  

At the interval, we then found ourselves having our wine and chatting about friends we had gone "above and beyond" for.  I told him about when the Young Dutchman lived with me, and he told a similar story about a female friend who had stayed with him, except he was so concerned about having his common space messed up with a mattress and her things, that she had actually shared his king-sized bed with him.  Now, having shared my bed with boys before and nothing romantic happened, I will accept the idea that nothing happened here either, but doesn't that strike you as kind of weird?

We went back in for the second half of the play, where Timon, now penniless and homeless, was cursing all of his former "friends", and upon discovering a secret cache of gold, gave it to some revolutionaries to have them go and wreak havoc on Athens.  I thought it was interesting that they gave the chief rabble-rouser an Irish accent, which I wonder if that is a detail your typical American audience would pick up on.  

And then there was this moment, when some comment was made about women and the trouble they cause men, when he gave me a playful little poke, almost being a bit flirtatious.  And at this point in the evening (perhaps influenced by how much wine we had consumed), I also remembered that he hadn't lied on his profile, that he was 6-feet tall, blonde, and rather good-looking.  And there was a reason he'd suggested keeping in touch.  He actually was quite good fun.  

So after the play, we went for another drink at a nearby bar (another bottle of wine, although he bought this time), and then when we sat down at a booth, he surprised me somewhat by sitting next to me in the booth instead of opposite me.  Okay then....   So we continued to chat and have a great time, and the more I laughed, the more I found myself very, very, very confused.  I mean....we'd already agreed there was no chemistry between us, right?  Except....damn, he made me laugh a lot.  And then he made some comment about noticing that my shirt could use another button done up, and I teased him about how he'd noticed.  So we were kind of admitting there was some level of attraction there...although since he was moving to Sydney in six weeks, what was the point?

He then walked me to the Tube (where I was surprised to learn that he was a Rhodesian Boy, born in Zimbabwe and had only moved here at the age of 7, making me wonder what it is about me and Africans), but didn't attempt to kiss me or anything, just let me go when our trains arrived on opposite sides of the platform.

When I got out at Shepherd's Bush at around midnight, I got a text from Joel, so I figured he must be awake and maybe I could call him for advice.  Yet, there was something in his voice when he answered that made me realise it was a bad time (had he answered the phone when he was asleep?  But how had he fallen asleep so quickly?)

(I later learned that Joel had been in the middle of an argument with his girlfriend.  And then answered the phone in the middle of it.  Is it any wonder she actually kicked him out that night?)

I took ages trying to figure out what to write to him once I was home, to try and convey my somewhat confused feelings, and finally went with:  "Just texting you to let you know I'm home safely, and to tell you what a fantastic time I had tonight.  Have now spent ages trying to come up with a suitable final line, but I get the sense you get it anyway.  Sweet dreams..." to which he replied, "Shame that you never got to see the flat.  C'est la vie."

I laughed so hard, because he OBVIOUSLY got it. That implication that I found him attractive, and would have been up for a little bit of fun, perhaps.  But that's life that the opportunity was missed.

So I then dealt with this by writing to Qatari Boy when I saw him online.  Yet he wasn't hugely responsive, which was explained when Caroline suddenly popped up and started chatting to me.  "Just thought I'd complete true chain. I'm chatting to the Chap. Who is chatting to Qatari Boy. Who is chatting to you."

 Made me laugh but also explained Qatari Boy's distraction, as he was chatting to the Chap much more than me.  So I engaged with Caroline for a while and told her the story of my evening, and finally Qatari Boy got enough sense into him to shower me with a few compliments, which is all I'd really wanted.  Still no suggestion of getting together, but I've started to despair of that anyway.  Qatari Boy is good for banter, and that's it, really....  Thank goodness Internet Dates who make more of an effort to see me than he does!