What is it they say about LA? Big city, small town?

Here’s a story about how everyone knows everyone in this town.

Last year, a guy on Match.com named Gabe* emailed me and upon checking out his profile, I found one picture featuring tall Gabe on the left and my short friend Justin* on the right. I immediately took a screenshot, and emailed my girlfriend D. demanding “Do you know this man??” She did not but we did find him on Facebook and discovered that he works with Justin. Making a very bad judgment call that I would later regret, I opted not to email Gabe back.

Fast forward to a week later. Justin invited me and my friends to a “welcome our new roommate” party and night out. Of course, I walked in the door and immediately saw Gabe. I then also immediately saw Derek*, a guy I had hooked up with a long time ago.

After several drinks, we ventured to a bar in Santa Monica. At the bar, I saw Gabe standing in the corner of the bar with our friend Aaron* showing off something on his phone. Gabe eventually calls me over and promptly shows me all of my Match.com pictures and demands to know why I didn’t email him back. I laughed it off and said that I recognized Justin from the photo, hadn’t been online much that week (not a lie!), and figured we’d meet in real life (and not the intrawebs) eventually. He then asks to buy me a drink which of course I accept and then proceeds to tell everyone around that he is buying citygirl (my Match screenname) a drink. He tells the 22 year old dude that took a shot with him that. He told all of our friends that. I ask him to stop shouting that and then he gets in my face about why I’m embarrassed to be online dating.

To his credit, once he stopped screaming my Match.com username and we had a normal conversation, he was actually pretty funny and cute (in a tall, goofy way). I actually did wind up giving him my number. Then at some point, he decided to bring up that I had hooked up with Derek last year. Um seriously??  So here’s a lesson ladies – guys DO talk.

At that point, I turned to my friends and announced I wanted to leave and apparently we peaced out without saying bye to anyone (that’s sort of my drunken MO). I got home, got a phone call from Gabe, and then drunkenly accepted his invitation to meet for lunch the next day.

So, I actually did meet him for lunch that following day. BUT Justin can be a dense idiot and decided to invite himself and 6 others along (including Derek, the previous year’s hookup). All in all, it was a nice, awkward, hungover brunch.

And Gabe and I never went out again.

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* all names have been changed to protect the innocent guilty