Looooong story. TL:DR at bottom
I set up an online dating profile for my friend, "Lucy". She is a couple of years older than me and although she'd had plenty of dates, she had never had a boyfriend. After many failed attempts of online dating, she would constantly complain that there are no decent men out there. Personally I was convinced it was because she was always talking to the wrong kind of men (for her), and so, with her consent, I decided to try and help her.
Side note -I had a boyfriend at the time (let's call him Max), nothing serious. Had been dating approx 10months.
Well I got to it! Set up a profile with the username 'mymatelucy', and made it very clear in the profile that I was acting on behalf of my friend as the kind of 'middleman'. I explained that I would have an idea of whether Lucy would be interested in a date with them or not, and that they could ask me questions to see if they would be interested in pursuing a date with her. It was fun creating a profile and explaining all the great and quirky things about my friend, but at the same time keeping it real.
The profile was a hit!
I had lots of responses, some even just to say that they thought it was a great idea to act on behalf of my friend, and some saying they wish their friends had done this for them! There were responses from a bunch of seemingly decent guys and I was very excited for Lucy's prospects! I got chatting to a few, and one in particular stood out (let's call him Blake).
Blake seemed very down to earth and friendly - tick! He had a job he enjoyed - tick! He had fun interests and was adventurous - tick! He was very respectful and spoke lovingly of his family - tick! Blake was great. I was so excited to tell Lucy!
Well, Lucy had since decided she wasn't up for meeting any of the guys I had lined up for her. No matter how much I would say "but Blake sounds perfect!", she just changed her mind. Ah well.
I broke the news to the guys and said "thanks for contacting anyway, good luck", but Blake and I got on so well we continued to chat and jokingly decided that I would be his matchmaker!
We could talk for hours. I even joked to Max that I had found a new best friend in Blake, and that I was going to find him the woman of his dreams. I would think of all my single friends and fire their descriptions off to Blake to see if we could match him with one of them, but to no avail. Blake explained that he was going to attend a speed dating night so I was looking forward to hearing about that. We had such great conversations. Since we were so friendly, we decided we should meet up. Around this time, unrelated to the Blake situation, I had called things off with my boyfriend, Max (who was a bit of a dick and didn't treat me well).
We organised to go out to dinner near his place. He lived with a bunch of housemates and told me they never locked the door so when I came to his house to meet him I could just walk in. I know, right. Weird. But I did.
The first time I met Blake was in the middle of the stairs to his bedroom. I had walked into his house and his housemate had told me where Blake's room was, so I just headed up. That is the level of comfort I felt with this guy I had never met. Unreal.
We headed out to dinner and had such a blast. It felt like we had known each other our whole lives. Nothing awkward. Relaxed and fun. He told me all about speed dating and a girl he had met (Wendy) who he would like to go on a date with. I helped him write the text messages and he set up a fun date for them. I truly felt like I had found a new bestie. We had such a good time that we organised a movie night for the following evening at his place. Film of choice: Evil Dead.
We watched the movie in his room. Totally respectful, nothing freaky going on. No roaming hands etc etc. We didn't approach the night as if it was to be anything like that. It was comfortable. It got late and he offered for me to stay. He lent me one of his t-shirts and that was that. Next day we had breakfast and I headed home. That night was to be his date with the speed dating girl, Wendy.
He went on another date with Wendy but she was generally a bit rude. He respectfully told her he wasn't interested, and that stopped. The more time went by my friends would often comment "you and Blake are going to end up together you know" and I was always like no way, he's the best, hence I don't ever want to lose him by risking it on a relationship. But after a few weeks I was starting to feel something. Like I just wanted to be around him forever.
I had stayed over at his a couple of times. Nothing cheeky happened. I was staying over again one night and we decided to go on a night out together. We had so much fun dancing. When we got back to his and laid in bed the sexual energy was INTENSE. But alas, we went to sleep. The next morning, however, the tension was through the roof and we ended up getting close. Then we both just kind of said how we felt a love for each other and that was that! 6 years later and we're still going strong!
He did tell me later that when he was on his way to pick up Wendy one night he had an urge to turn around and come get me instead, and he knew at that point he had feelings for me.
For our first anniversary I got him a keyring with the coordinates to his old bedroom stairs, where we first met :) Every year we also go to that same restaurant we went to on the first night. It's our little tradition.
Lucy is still waiting to meet the right person for her.
TL:DR I set up a dating profile for my friend but she decided she didn't want to meet up with anyone and I ended up getting with one of the guys who responded, who turned out to be the love of my life!