When my best friend Mia set me up on a blind date, I didn’t expect much. So when Eric arrived with roses

and a small keychain engraved with my initial, I was pleasantly surprised. Dinner went smoothly — he was polite,

funny, and easy to talk to. When the check came, I offered to split it, but he smiled and insisted. I drove home thinking, Maybe blind dates aren’t so bad after all.

The next morning, my phone buzzed. Expecting a sweet follow-up text, I instead found an “invoice.” Yes — an actual

itemized list of our date expenses. He’d “charged” me for flowers, the keychain, dinner, and even “compliments

(unlimited).” At first, I laughed, thinking it was a clever joke. But then I saw the total and the note:

“Payment accepted in the form of a second date.” Suddenly, I wasn’t sure if it was humor or hint.

Puzzled, I forwarded it to Mia. She burst out laughing and showed it to her boyfriend, Chris, who happened to know Eric.

To play along, Chris made a “reversal invoice,” billing Eric for “introductions, emotional labor, and matchmaking expertise.”

When Eric received it, his confident tone disappeared. His reply — “Haha, I was just kidding!” — sounded more like backtracking. I sent a simple thumbs-up and decided to move on.

Later, Mia called, still laughing. “You’ve officially survived the strangest date ever,” she said. She wasn’t wrong.

I kept the keychain as a souvenir — not of romance, but of the reminder that sincerity always wins over forced cleverness.

And if you ever receive an invoice after a date, take it as proof that modern love can come with some truly unexpected fees.