I Broke Things Off With A Tinder Fling. Then He Harassed Me For 2 Years.

"The internet can make you feel like you know a person — until they actually show you what they’re capable of."

The internet can make you feel like you know a person — until they actually show you what they’re capable of.  In the beginning, before things got out of hand and police became involved, there were the dates and the drives and the dinners. Ethan and I did things like sail his dad’s boat off Santa Barbara and go out to brunch in Montecito, California. On nights when I visited him at his beachside apartment in Los Angeles, we would get high, buy Nobu takeout and watch Quentin Tarantino classics. Ethan was white and wealthy, and even though he had a DUI, he still drove buzzed. He seemed untouchable, and whenever I was with him, I felt untouchable too.  We met each other the way everyone else in college meets in the summer of 2018 — through Tinder on a Sunday night, drunk and carefree. I texted him to come over, and when he stumbled out of his Uber an hour later, we kissed before even speaking.