I got rejected and no, it doesn’t feel good

I don’t post much on Reddit so it’s taken a lot for me to even get to this stage but here goes nothing.

Lockdown has been pretty hard for us all. I (27 M) went on a date with a someone (25 F) just before lockdown and really enjoyed her company. Everything shut down and things obviously became difficult. We had been messaging each other a lot and video calling about once a week – I felt great. She had told me she wanted to meet again before deciding what she wanted to do about us which I completely respected and, to be honest, thought was a good idea.

As the measures have been lessened where I’m based, we decided to meet up for a walk and a picnic. I prepared a bunch of food and really put the effort in. Long story short, I thought the day was great. But right at the end, things felt off and awkward. I leaned in for a kiss goodbye, and it was the worst kiss of my life. I figured it was down to nerves as I actually liked this girl and we went our separate ways.

I messaged her to tell her I had a good time and genuinely how I felt, because I didn’t see the point in the dragging this out. She messaged me back saying she didn’t feel the same way. I obviously respect her decision but it really sucks that after spending so much time getting to know her that the next time I actually saw her was it.

Some people claim to feel great when they get rejected but I genuinely don’t right now. I know I’ll get over it, and that I’ll be fine. But right now, it’s a kick in the teeth and really needed to get these feelings out.

I don’t really think I need advice or anything here – as I tagged, I just wanted to vent.