Blind Date: Brianna, Joey and an awkwardly funny tour of the city

This is the first of the multi-part series in which I match single Charlotteans of all ages.

Applicants sent me a few details on things like their views on politics, religion and marriage and trusted me to send them on a true blind date.

Those selected don’t know anything about their date except the essentials – name, age and one thing that I thought would make them a good match. They don’t even get to see a picture.

After sifting through close to 800 applicants, I set aside several pairs and, based on their survey answers, set up a date I thought they’d enjoy.

First up: Joey, a 24-year-old auditor living in Fourth Ward, and Brianna, a 22-year-old first grade teacher living in Elizabeth.

I chose them not because they listed the same spots as their favorite bars (Sycamore and Whiskey Warehouse), because they both listed breweries first when asked their favorite things to do in Charlotte or because they both love Plaza Midwood — though these things definitely didn’t hurt. I chose them because they’re both new to Charlotte.

Joey moved to Charlotte from Pittsburgh about six months ago, and Brianna’s only been living here for a few months longer and came from Virginia Beach for work.

They both enjoy casual first dates, and I wanted to help both of them get to know the city a little bit better, so I stuck them on a Funny Bus tour with a six-pack of OMB Copper and dinner at Fourth Ward staple Alexander Michael’s afterward.

Here’s how it went.

How do you feel about the dating scene in Charlotte? And if you’re in it, how are you meeting people?

Joey: I moved from Pittsburgh, and I’d say it’s better here. The weather’s better, so there are more things to do and people are doing things more often. I didn’t really go out a ton when I was in Pittsburgh, so for me, it’s like college versus living in the city in general. But I do think the environment and the culture here is a lot more friendly and inclusive than Pittsburgh was. In terms of meeting people, I’ve met a ton and they’ve all been great.

I just got out of a three-year relationship in November, so I haven’t been pursuing things super aggressively, but just going to bars – and I’m new to the city, so I’m meeting friends and people in the natural way. I have occasionally used the Tinders and the Bumbles, but not really too often.

Brianna: I’m not really in the dating scene, but I guess I’m meeting people through mutual friends that I knew at college or just going out. I’m not on Bumble or Tinder.

How did you feel leading up to the date? Were you ever nervous or hesitant, or was there ever a moment you had second thoughts about letting a total stranger send you on a date with another total stranger?

Joey: I’ve never really been on a blind date before so I was pretty nervous, especially given the fact that people are reading about it, that kind of added to it. But it was too cool to pass up.

Brianna: I was actually surprised that I wasn’t more nervous. I feel like I would have been more nervous if it wasn’t through you guys because, you know, Axios Charlotte would be on the line if something horrible went down, so it took some of the pressure off. All of my coworkers were asking me and were so shocked I was doing it, but I was surprised myself.

What was your first impression?

Joey: So I got there first, and was kind of waiting, looking at my phone, sticking my head up every couple of seconds and then I saw her and kind of smiled. As she got closer she just kind of started laughing, which I thought was awesome. It eased some of the tension, since we both were like, ‘It’s a weird situation, but we’re both going to have fun with it.’ What else do you do? It’s funny. Just go with it.

Brianna: We were both pretty nervous at that point, and that was the most awkward part – walking up. But he was super sweet, and the nerves kind of went away when we started talking and getting to know each other a little bit.

I guess my first impression is that he was really genuine and kind. I was a little nervous that the guy was going to be, kind of like, not a joke but taking it as a joke, but you could tell he was being genuine about it.

Did you guys get along? What’d you like about each other, and what was the vibe? Was there chemistry?

Joey: We got along pretty well. It was interesting hearing about her and her background and stuff. I enjoyed hearing about her being a teacher and her dog and things like that. We talked about the craziness of how we got in this situation, and how we wouldn’t have met each other under any other circumstance.

There were a few lulls in conversation, but I feel like part of that was from being on the Funny Bus. That was different – the guy’s talking over you, and there aren’t a whole lot of opportunities just to talk to each other. When we had gotten to the dinner part, it was like we’d been with each other for an hour and a half, but we’d only had 15 or 20 minutes of conversation, so it was kind of like, ‘Are we still in the small talk stage?’ It was hard to figure out, so there were a few awkward silences, but nothing like, ‘This is awful, I need to go home.’

I think it was a combination of a lot of things [when it comes to a potential lack of chemistry]. We were the youngest people on the bus by a fair amount. It was fine, it was still enjoyable, the guy was really funny, but a couple of the jokes were kind of like, if I was with my friends – and they know me really well – I’d laugh openly, but I think we were both like, ‘I want to laugh, but I’m not sure – will she think I’m a jerk if I laugh?’ It may have made us a little nervous. After, we kind of agreed that it was a little bit awkward.

It was still a lot of fun and I’m glad that I did it, but as far as a blind date… it was different.

Brianna: He was, like I said, really nice. A genuine person. He was funny, and we were laughing the whole time, which was good, especially on the comedy tour, so that sense of humor was there. I would say the tour was perfect. You could tell that we were the only people on a first date, but I was glad we did that first rather than just go straight to dinner – I hate going to dinner with someone that you don’t really know. It’s so awkward. This gave us an opportunity to get comfortable, and it was super funny and the guy was hilarious, so it was a good way to start it off. It made it way less awkward than it would have been.

But I guess there might not have been as much chemistry as we were looking for there. If anything, it might have been that he was a little more shy than I would be looking for. Kind of more reserved.

So the chemistry might not have been there after the bus tour, but how did dinner go? Were you able to get it back?

Joey: Dinner was good. It was a really nice restaurant, and I think we were both happy to be there. As far as chemistry, I don’t know – it’s hard to say. I think we were still kind of trying to recover, or whatever you call it, from the Funny Bus. I’m not really good at sort of gauging that. It was hard to tell.

Brianna: Dinner was really good! What I liked about it was that I was worried that the conversation was going to be awkward, but by that point we’d both had a few drinks, so that helped. But the conversation was good, and we never really ran out of things to talk about, which was good, since that was one of the things I was most nervous about.

Did you go out afterward, or go ahead and call it a night?

Joey: Actually, she invited me to go hang out with some of her friends at Selwyn Pub afterward. I don’t know if it was kind of a contingency plan if it didn’t go well, and I guess I didn’t have the foresight to do that, but we hopped in an Uber and hung out. I think it was good just to hang out in a non-date setting for a little bit and just kind of be normal people. I think that was fun, kind of more relaxing.

Brianna: We actually ended up going and meeting up with some of my friends at another bar down the road afterwards. It was fun. We didn’t stay out that long. We’d actually had a good bit to drink at dinner and I kind of got a little drunk at that point, and I was like ‘Oh god, I really should go home,’ so we only stayed about an hour after.

How did you leave it?

Joey: We split an Uber, so I got her number. When I left, she was like, ‘You have my number, text me if you want’ – I don’t really remember, exactly.

I texted her on Saturday, harmlessly saying me and my friends were hanging out, if you want to swing by, you’re more than welcome to. But she had other plans, she was going to the Whitewater Center, so we kind of left it at that. Nothing else. I texted her that night and said ‘Hey, I had a really good time, it was nice meeting you’ and everything, but that was about it.

I don’t know [if we’ll go out again]. It’s hard to say. I would… I don’t know if… I don’t know. You never want to say there’s no possibility, and I really enjoyed meeting her, and I think we got along well, but I don’t know. With the funny bus and everything that was going on – and I’m not trying to blame the Funny Bus – it was kind of tough to get the chemistry back.

Brianna: So I think I gave him my number because we split an Uber to get back. He texted me to make sure I got home safe, so he was really sweet about that. There wasn’t a kiss goodnight. He invited me out the next day, but I already had plans. I don’t know if the chemistry was there, and I feel really bad because he was so sweet and I wanted it to be there.

What rating would you give the date, Funny Bus and all? Let’s do it on a one to five scale.

Joey: I’d say, like, a 3. It wasn’t bad, and it was really nice to meet her, but I don’t know how likely it is that there will be a second date.

Brianna: The date itself was awesome. I couldn’t have planned out a better blind date. Like the activities we did, that’d be a five. No, overall, I’d give it a five. There was nothing bad about it, really. It wasn’t awkward. The only thing that would have made it better was if there was more chemistry, but the date itself, I can’t really say that there were any bad aspects.

Single and want to participate in Blind Date? Here’s the Agenda Blind Date dating survey. Fill it out for a chance to be selected. We’re planning on doing about one blind date each month. Feature photo courtesy of Laura Sumrak