Do you have any idea how fast you were going?

I had a first date dinner with Francine R. We had met online and leading up to the date, we had talked on IM or the phone every day for two weeks. The date was more of the same...as we both chatted back and forth for hours. The restaurant had to kick us out as they closed three hours later. We spent the next hour in the parking lot talking even more. It was a very nice first date. We then continued our talkative ways the next day as we IM'd and talked on the phone yet again. We hung up because she was heading to a party.

A couple days passed with us continuing to talk constantly. So, I asked about date number two.

BiffM: "My class was canceled, so are you free on Wednesday?"

Francine R: "I want to take things a bit slow for now. I'm sure you can understand that. This comes up because my life gets very complicated. Mainly because Saturday night at the party was someone who I had strong feelings for a LONG time ago and some of those felt like they were coming back. The LAST thing I want to do is hurt anyone's feelings!!!"

A female friend of mine offered this translation and I tend to agree with it:

"um, i'm not sure if i really like you, so i'm going to see if i can sleep with this guy first and get him to like me and if he doesn't, you can be my back up till i find someone else."

Even if her translation isn't the correct one, the notion of "take things slow" is always a mystery to me. Taking it slowly simply allows both parties ample time to look elsewhere until one of them eventually finds the next person he/she wants. I argue that "take things slow" = "this is over"

Whether my friend is correct with her translation or I'm correct with mine, both lead to me yelling, "NEXT!"