I originally posted this in r/Tinder but got removed. Trying here:

This is a story of how I lost a date.

Something about me first to set the narrative:
I am an introvert, average built, 5’8″ guy (28M), I have tinder account for about a year now. Get about 2-3 matches a month, mostly I don’t message because I can’t come up with a clever opening line. I started a couple of conversations but was never able to keep it going. I haven’t dated a lot or a had a GF, so don’t have a lot of confidence in women’s department. That’s all fine, I have a pretty good job that keeps me busy and interested, so I atleast got that going for me.

Now the story:
I matched with this lady (F, in her 30’s) last weekend. She worked in related field so I thought would be a good conversation at the minimum. Based on her profile I was able to come up with a clever opening line, we exchange few message back-forth that evening, she asked me where I live. I replied. (I am about 25-30 min drive away, and where I live is on my profile!)

No more conversation that night, chatted briefly next day.

The next day she asked if I would like to meet for a walk in the evening sometime this week. I said if we can keep on Friday (work busy…) evening. She was down for that. Now 4 days of idle time in between, I try to keep the conversation going, send some jokes, talk about work a little. We exchange phone numbers in between (on her request) to text instead of using app.

We decide to meet at a park near her place (again, that’s a 30 min drive for me – no issues, I offered that and was more than happy to do it). One hour before meeting she text’s that got stuck with work and if we can plan for something tomorrow. I was ok with that, replied lets chat tomorrow morning to figure out something.

Got a msg about 2.5 hr later from her that she is free now and can meet in 2 hours (9 PM). I was out buying groceries at that time (standing in queue to get into store). I replied that wouldn’t be possible for me to make it on time. She quipped that 2 hr for grocery shopping is too long, I should go to a better store.

I get back home, about 15 min remaining in that 2 hr ultimatum above. I msg her that maybe we can plan to meet tomorrow. Following is the conversation (paraphrasing):

Me: got back now, can we plan something for tomorrow?
Her: From groceries ?
Her: *blush emoji*
Her: Unbelievable
Me: Yeah. Friday, long checkout queue..
Her: enjoy dating with you groceries – I would skip
Me: skip tomorrow?
Her: Skip forever, lets just forget about each other
Me: ok

I wasn’t going to grovel back.
[Got unmatched, deletes my number (I think) ]

Now if you are still with me so far :D, here is what I am looking some help, to understand how dating works:

• Anything I could have done differently?
• I would give her the benefit of doubt as well, maybe she thought I went out to see some other women and groceries was just a ruse. But I was really f-in buying groceries, and you don’t get to be judgmental after you blow up initial time we set.
• Did I just missed a sure opportunity to get laid? I am 100% sure that she was using Tinder Gold (had the gold sign around her profile, in “Matches” tab of the app – she updated her profile 3 times since we matched and I couldn’t miss that gold sign).

At the end no harm no foul, very minor ding to my pride, nothing that I can’t recover from. Not that we were soulmates anyway. So no hard feeling for this (maybe) nice lady who was my first real tinder conversation (and maybe hookup?).

Any suggestion/comments/feedback on this situation that helps me become better at dating are welcome.