How not to go on a date.

So, I[26m] haven't been very lucky with tinder, until last week. I super liked this girl Kara[21f] (fictional name), and to my surprise, we matched. She was responding to my messages although herself admitted she was a bad texter and would often left me on read, which is not a problem for me.

So, I finally had the balls to ask if she wanted to meet up. She agreed, yay! Now, I wasn't going to slack on this opportunity, it was the first date I had in 5 years, I needed to work hard on it. First of all, I made a list of possible topics to talk about based on what I knew of her. She seemed to be a very active feminist. So, I read some Beauvoir to not be caught off guard if she asked my opinion on anything related. She also happened to be pursuing an art degree. I found out that there was the exhibit of this 70s post modern artist and got two tickets. Again, I kind of read a bit about him, so I could give my input if asked. And finally, she seemed to be very into holistic things (like tarot etc), so I found this coffee place that kind of fit into the theme that we could meet up.

The perfect date was set. We would meet for coffee, talk a bit and then head to the exhibit. If I got lucky, maybe a kiss at the end?

I met her at the door and we went inside. The place was very nicely decorated, so we spend some time looking at all the little sculptures and art pieces on the walls. Then, enters Dave (fictional name)

-Some of them are for sale if you interested. I'm also doing tarot reading today.

-We should totally get a reading, Kara said.

-Sure, seems interesting. (BIG MISTAKE)

We went to a table near by and the guy pulled the deck (if that is what is called). The guys procedes to do whatever and talking about her life choices and so on. He got personal, I could see the effect it had on her. She keep looking deeply at his eyes as he laid out what she could be struggling with emotionally. I felt kind of left out, to be honest. Time went by and they're still talking, about life, relationships etc. Now I'm really bothered by all of this. So I try break it off by saying.

-So, do you want to go to the exhibit? I think it will close in a hour or so.

She smiled, looked at Dave and said:

-Dude, you would totally love this exhibit. You should totally go with us.

And there you have it. She invited tall, handsome Dave to the exhibit. And he agreed. They kept talking the whole way there. At the door I pretended to take a phone call, and left saying that there was an emergency. She said that it was a bummer, but didn't seem very sad about it.

I went home and cried in the shower. I never felt so useless in my entire life. This dude just snatched my date away, and all I could do was watch it. I didn't had very high expectations for how the date would end, but holy shit.

Is there any way that I can avoid this kind of situation?