People of Missed Connections: Frankie and Jack

We interview two Craigslist Missed Connections posters and try to help them find their partners in serendipity.

By Danielle Gibson

People of Missed Connections is a new Hooksexup feature in which we interview Craigslist Missed Connections posters to give them a better shot at finding the people they posted about.

Frankie, 24
Freelance writer

To the guy who sat next to me at "The Future" last night - w4m - 24 (Greenwich Village)
You were sitting next to me at Miranda July's The Future last night. I wanted to say hi. I swear I'm not creepy. 

Tell me about the incident that inspired your Missed Connection.
It was this past Sunday, and I was really busy. I had all this transcribing work. But I managed to do it all, and then finished this writing project I was working on, and I was so proud of myself that I decided to go to the movies. My friend who was supposed to come with me flaked, but it was so hot, I wanted to be in air conditioning. So I decided to go myself.

Do you see a lot of movies by yourself?
I love going to the movies alone. Last year Jezebel did this piece about the stuff every woman should do alone at least once in her life, and going to the movies was one of them, and all of the comments were negative. I thought that was so weird.

So you got there, and then what happened?
I took a seat in the front, and this guy got there right as the movie was starting. He sat in the seat next to me — he had to climb over me a little bit. I had this impulse to tell him what he had missed, because he came in late and missed the beginning. And the movie kept alluding back to the beginning, and I was like, "This guy doesn't get it!" I didn't end up telling him.

Was he cute?
I'll say he was good-looking, but honestly I could hardly see him because it was so dark. All I could see was that he had shaggy dark hair that was a little bit longer than mine, which is the same hairstyle the guy in the movie had. So in my mind, he looked exactly like the guy in the movie. And the guy in the movie, Hamish Linklater, is really hot. So my brain made this false connection that I was sitting next to the guy in the movie. And I don't really look like Miranda July, but I look enough like her, so I kind of lost track of the movie and had this whole story in my head. "This is how I met my husband — we both saw The Future and looked like the main characters in the movie."

Did you think he might be feeling the same way?
I thought, "How can he not be thinking that?" because we were sitting right next to each other and it's such a date movie. And you know how when you go the movies with someone, you become hyper-aware of their reactions to everything? If you laugh and they don't laugh, you think, "Oh, maybe I shouldn't have laughed." Or he would laugh, and I would automatically start laughing, because it's kind of contagious. So it felt like I was on a date with him, even though we didn't know each other. It ended, and the credits start, and I didn't get up. And he didn't get up. So I thought maybe we'd start talking to each other. He got up though, and I considered following him out, but I was scared. I didn't want to know what he really looked like.

You weren't at all curious?
Well, I went to stand outside for a minute, and waited. He came out, and I could have said hi to him, but I thought it would be weird. So I just stared at him, which is even weirder. He was really good-looking, but maybe too good-looking. Like a d-bag or a musician.

I Don't Care About Your Band, right?
Right. But then I got home and kept thinking about it, so I figured I had nothing to lose, and wrote the Missed Connection.

Have you ever written a Missed Connection before?
A couple of times. Once it even worked out. I was in Sunset Park, and this young good-looking guy passed me, and we made eye contact, and we passed each other, but then turned around to check each other out at the exact same time. That caused me to trip, which was very rom-com, so I posted a Missed Connection about being the girl who tripped, and I admitted to checking him out. And he wrote back, and I couldn't believe it!

So what happened?
Well, the thing was... I'm sure he was a very nice guy, but it was really poorly written. Like he didn't capitalize, didn't add Gs at the end of verbs, and concluded by asking me to "hit him up," but misspelled "hit" as "hot."

You didn't want to hot him up?
He might still be wondering why I didn't write back.

So because he didn't live up to what you had set out in your mind, you didn't want to give him the chance?
Well, that's the problem with Missed Connections. They're always so much better in your mind. That's why I wasn't so bummed when you were the only one to reply to my new one.

The ad's still up. What would the best-case scenario be?
He writes back, writes beautifully, and we go to another movie together and have the same taste, and then we fall in love, the end. Second-best is I never hear back from him, but it's a good story to have.

What kind of guys do you tend to be attracted to in general?
My type is waifish. This guy wasn't that waifish, but he was very hipster, and probably lived in Brooklyn.

Even though they haven't worked out yet, will you write more Missed Connections in the future?
I think so! This was my third. The other one was for this busker in the subway playing the clarinet. He was this really cute young black guy, and he played "Stars and Stripes Forever," and he started marching. But the train pulled up before I could tell him how good he was, so I wrote a Missed Connection about that.

Do you check them every day?
I don't. I can't afford to have another obsession right now. Once you start, you can't stop. And when you don't find yourself, it can be weirdly disappointing.

Do you take that into consideration when you're getting dressed for the day? Like "I'll wear these glasses and this dress, and carry this book, and it will distinguish me?"
I would, but it really doesn't, in Brooklyn.

I feel like I fall in love a few times a day. Some people are looking for the possibility of love, and some aren't. Are you?
It depends on my mood. There are days when I've had mental sex with everyone on my subway car. I'm always looking for sex, and I like being single, so maybe it would be disappointing if he wrote back. I like the constant possibilities. And writing Missed Connections.

Say your guy from The Future happens to be a Hooksexup reader and sees this. What would you say to him?
I'm not creepy.

Are you the guy Frankie's looking for? Email and let us know!