Tall.
Back then, he was straggly, not yet growing into himself.
Bit of a nerd.
These days, judging by his photographs, he’s still tall but not as thin, nicely filled out. Masculine? A few pictures show him with a beard, a few show him without, so that’s one of the first questions I asked when we first matched.
Me:Beard or no beard…?
Brian:Why does everyone keep asking me that?
Is he being serious? It’s hard to tell. There is no inflection in tone on this dumb app.
Me:LOL Because you have three pictures where you have a beard and four where you don’t?? Women want to know what the current status is.
Brian:Oh. Ha. Currently no beard.
Me:How is the city treating you so far?
Brian:Same old shit, you know? I hated this place, which is one of the reasons I left, but—here we are, ya know?
Me:Sure, I get that.
Not really, but okay. Chicago is a huge city, full of life and people—I understand some people don’t want to stay in their hometown, but to say that he hates it…that seems dramatic.
He’s a civil engineer and he hates the city? Doesn’t he design bridges and tall buildings? Literally everything you find in the city?
Brian:So what’s your deal? When was your last relationship?
Me:A few months ago—never been married, no kids.
Brian:RED FLAG lol
Me:How is that a red flag? LOL
I only add the LOL because I’m somewhat offended he’d say that—since when is being thirty and having no kids a bad thing?
Brian:Just kidding.
Me:What about you???
Brian:I got married out of college, it lasted 3 years, I have one daughter who is 18 months. Ex and I get along fine.
Well, that’s good news. I don’t think I’d appreciate possibly dating someone who had nothing good to say about an ex. Though I understand not everyone can get along, and not everyone’s ex is a decent human.
Me:Where does she live?
Brian:Madison, so, about two hours. Makes seeing my kid a real pain in the ass.
Me:Yeah I can see how that would be inconvenient.
Brian:Doing anything this weekend, we should grab a drink.
Me:I could do a drink.
I mean, what’s the harm? I know Brian from my past and although I don’t know ADULT Brian—how bad could he be? He sounds successful and when I texted Kate about him, she said she hasn’t seen him in a while but heard he’s a decent dude.
Brian:Awesome. Let’s coordinate something on Friday.