Posted on 2022.10.03
One of the fun things
about being a Companion is that I’m willing to try anything once. If you’re an adventurous Gentleman, you’re my favourite kind of date. Since Clients know this about me, I enjoy really cool vacations, exotic meals, and collect stories that I’ll be able to tell my grandkids for years to come. My life as a Companion gives me a chance to live out some fantasies and help others to live out theirs.
Then, there was a camping guy. We had actually been out on a few dates already and he was very sweet. He worked in tech and spent most of his days in virtual reality. Building alternate worlds, new games, and creating fantasy out of code. He had decided he had enough and wanted to get in touch with nature, and he wanted to bring me along.
I realized in that moment that all the adventures I craved had at least a four-star rating. When I was told he wanted to book me for a three-day weekend I got excited, thinking that he wanted to take me as his plus one to a tech conference in Silicon Valley, or even to a resort. No.
He wanted me to sleep on the ground.
I looked down at my freshly done nails and admired my perfect pedicure. I just spent the morning getting beautified in anticipation of a fun and sexy weekend on the schedule, but this guy now offered to fill my entire schedule.
In a tent. On the ground.
I thought about it for a little bit, because as spoiled as I am, this Gentleman is a real sweetheart. He offered to supply all the equipment needed and I only needed to bring myself and some changes of clothing. Hmmm. I was this close to saying no when he confirmed that there would be a cabin with running water. I said yes to the date and tried to figure out which one of my yoga shorts would be the most “outdoorsy”.
On Friday, I was picked up and driven to the “campsite”. I should’ve known better with this Gentleman! The campsite was a three-story chateau with all the bells and whistles. We were surrounded by trees on three sides and a stunning view of the lake on the fourth. My driver laughed as he unloaded my weekend bags and said, “you’re definitely gonna catch flies with that mouth hanging open!” I snapped my shocked mouth shut and headed inside.
After I settled and checked in, I went downstairs to find my Gentleman on the porch taking in a view. Not the view, but a completely different view in his VR headset. I tapped him on the shoulder and watched as his face lit up at the site of a real woman in front of him.
“What’s going on in there?” I asked, tapping the headset.
He turned pink and said, “nothing as good as what’s going on out here.” He explained that the headsets were part of a new product his company was launching and that he had been the lead designer. He designed a whole outdoor experience based on his camping trips as a child. Unfortunately, it had been years since he went camping and he wanted to make sure he captured it the way he had remembered it.
He took me on a tour of his “cabin” and with great flourish, showed me where I’d be sleeping for the next two nights:
In the backyard. In a tent. On the ground.
I looked back at the five-bedroom, three-bathroom, one sauna “cabin”, then I looked at the (really nice) four-person tent set up in the backyard, and then I looked at him full of confusion.
He smiled, held up the headset, and said “Gotta compare. If at any point you want to be inside, say the word, but I hope you want to spend part of the night with me.”
We got ready for dinner and he told me all about the new headset and how they planned on launching it overseas first. He’d be responsible for taking it on tour and teaching the teams how to use it. There was a bunch of technical stuff I didn’t understand but his passion made me excited about virtual reality for the first time, ever.
As the sun got lower, he lit a (real) fire in the fire pit and we opened another bottle of wine.
We talked about his time camping as a kid and how he would pretend he was an astronomer. We snuggled together as he showed me the stars. Out there, they were more beautiful than anything captured on a screen. I agreed to spend the night under them in the tent and it was an absolutely beautiful experience. We spent the rest of the date swimming, relaxing, and sharing time under the stars.
When it was time to head back to our concrete-covered reality, I actually felt a little bummed out. I wouldn’t see stars like that in the city, but I wouldn’t get to see stars with him as he was set to travel for the next two months. As we said our goodbyes, he gave me an envelope and told me to stop by the address in a few days. A week later, I went to the front desk and gave my name to the security guard, who returned with a large beautifully wrapped gift box.
Inside was my very own version of the new VR headset. Attached to it was a note:
“Until we can be under the stars again…I captured them on our weekend together and this is how they looked for us every night. I’ll see you in a couple of months.”
I can’t wait to go camping again.
Photo by Unsplash
