Jake and I agreed to meet for lunch. He was an attractive guy, and we took the time to get to know each other. Or so I thought. Fast forward to the day we were scheduled to meet. We met at a sushi restaurant, and when we sat to eat, we began conversing about the usual topics. Religion. Politics. Then we got to the topic of guns. I aspire to be a firearms instructor, and when I shared the fact that I collected guns, he immediately began lecturing me because it was his belief that Americans should only be allowed to own one firearm. Jake stated that people who owned more than one gun scared other Americans.Weird, I thought. This guy previously told me he was ex-military. The conversation became more bizarre as he proclaimed that he used to be a foreign country's government hitman. I found this incredibly amusing. "So you're a hitman that thinks there should be gun limits? To what, make your job easier and reduce your risk?" I asked sarcastically. His face shifted as he began to realize I wasn't buying his bullshit. Out of nervousness, I assumed he had turned the conversation to race. He proceeded to declaim his views on racism due to his time spent overseas. His views disturbed me. I had enough at this point and began to grab my card to pay my check and leave. As I pulled my card out of my pocket, he stood up. I turned around because this guy made me nervous at this point, and I didn't trust him. He got down on one knee. "Marry me?" he said. I began laughing hysterically because this had to be a joke. "hell no," I said a lot louder than I realized until I turned and saw the entire restaurant staring at me. Then I turned to him and realized he wasn't joking.

        We had gone out a couple times. Chad was great. He checked all of the boxes. Chad was kind, tall, handsome. Chad even took care of his mother with cancer. 

I had known Sam since high school. He dated a friend of mine in high school, very briefly, I might add. My friend and I were no longer friends due to an affair she had with my ex husband, so I figured what the hell. If I got to piss off my friend by going out with this guy, well that was an added bonus. 

      It started in the usual way. Online of course. Jake was charming and cute. I was smitten. We were both super busy so it was all phone calls and text messages in the beginning. When we finally did decide to meet, he suggested we meet at his gym. Don't get me wrong, fitness is my passion, but Jake looked super fit in his pictures and I was intimidated to work out with him. I didn't want to look like an idiot. but I agreed. I knew immediately when I pulled into the parking lot this was a terrible idea. The parking lot was completely full. It took a full ten minutes to find a spot. I arrived first so I parked and waited. As luck would have it, a spot opened up right next to mine. Jake pulled in. I got out of my car and walked over to his. As he begin to get out of his car, I was in shock. Jake was about 5 inches shorter than he stated on his profile and had clearly been using filters in all of his photos. Crap. I immediately began pondering my escape plan feeling as though I had been catfished.  

The following experience happened to one of our daters. This is Emily's story.