Young At Heart

Leslie and Charles make small talk while waiting for Jonah. Charles seems very eager to keep talking to Leslie, but Leslie starts to wonder what’s taking Jonah so long. She tries using her phone to send a message to Jonah’s number, but to her surprise, she hears the ‘ding!’ of the message arriving on Charles’ phone. Charles realizes he can’t stall any longer. He apologizes and says that he was working up the courage to tell her the truth: there IS no Jonah. Charles is the one who’s been talking to Leslie online all this time, making up the Jonah persona – a younger version of himself – to get Leslie to agree to go on a date with him. BUT everything he said online about his personality is more or less true. Charles mentions that he considers himself young at heart and none of the dates with women his age have clicked. Unfortunately, women Leslie’s age are often too offput with the age difference to go out with him. He was excited when he – as Jonah – met Leslie online and elated when they got along so well. But he also knew that he would eventually have to explain the truth to her, and hoped that he wouldn’t scare her off when he did.

Leslie is clearly shocked and unnerved by everything that Charles just revealed. Not only did he LIE to her and betray her confidence, but he’s SO MANY years OLDER than her – how can she EVER be with him? But Charles protests that age is just a number and that he can give her everything she’s looking for in a man – even MORE. After all, he comes with the experience of knowing how to satisfy a woman. Leslie is still uneasy. He makes some valid points but she just can’t get past the creepiness of it all. Charles makes her an offer: if she lets him pleasure her and it feels better than with any of the younger guys she’s been with, then she can give him a chance, a REAL chance.