

Whitney Waite, 25, a health-care analyst, and Gordon Chaffin, 28, social media content producer. (Daniele Seiss/Daniele Seiss)

Gordon Chaffin, 28, is a social media content producer who has never had a serious relationship and describes himself as “happily alone.” Whitney Waite, 25, a health-care analyst, has had a couple of serious relationships and is at a point where she’s “going with the flow” of whatever romance comes her way.

They met at Catch 15 Italian Kitchen & Oyster Bar downtown. Gordon describes himself as “intense,” but given what happened next, this seems like an understatement. He made several bold moves, starting with staging a mock proposal with a Ring Pop he had purchased for the photo above.

“I was, like, ‘It’s kinda weird, but it’s kinda cool you came up with a different idea, so I’ll go along with it,’ ” said Whitney, our patron saint of empathy.

They brought mutual anxiety to their date. But what of physical attraction? “She’s beautiful,” Gordon said, resorting to a verbal emoji: “It was kind of like, arms in the air screaming, ‘Yaass.’ ”

“I thought he was cute,” Whitney said. “He was wearing a not-very-well-fitted blazer over a soccer jersey with this pin on it. It was kind of adorable.”

Once seated, they were relieved to discover that neither of them drinks. Because of Whitney’s vegetarianism, though, Gordon said the amount of time it took their server to discuss meal options was “uncomfortable,” while Whitney worried she was coming off as “needy” and that her dietary restrictions were making things weird.

Gordon was also uneasy over the cost of the entrees even though The Post was paying, and slipped Whitney a note with an escape plan that he had written a few days earlier. It read: “Whitney, Hi. I’m not very comfortable in this setting — an expensive, fancy restaurant on our first date. This is a lot of pressure. This would not be my first or fifth choice to have our first conversation. I have an idea: Let’s get out of here. Let’s go eat somewhere an entree costs less than $30 and isn’t listed on the menu in Italian. Let’s go have pie. Dangerously Delicious Pies in Chinatown? I’m cool with anywhere other than this Italian kitchen and oyster bar. The plan: Pretend like you have a phone call outside. A few minutes later, I’ll ask for the restroom and slip out the front door, and we meet in an alley next door. I have a $20 bill and an apology note to leave at the table. You in?”

Whitney was not in. “I [was] a little weirded out,” she said. “I just [wanted] to stick to the plan. This was already a plan outside of my comfort zone, and unplanned just takes me further outside.” But she acquiesced: “For him to put himself out there and do that, I didn’t want to turn him down.” She suggested they split appetizers and then split. Their conversation blossomed from there.

“She was noticing things about me and asking about them, like my bicycle lapel pin that’s for [organizations that advocate] for cyclists,” Gordon said.

“I feel like he wore conversation items,” Whitney recalled. “I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll take the bait.’ ”

After appetizers, Gordon told their server he wasn’t feeling well and the pair slipped out, per Whitney’s plan. They walked to the Washington Monument, watched the sunset and discussed why Whitney doesn’t drink: She’s Mormon. “In my experience, when you say that you’re a Mormon, people already have their own thoughts on it. It’s usually like ‘Mormons are weird,’ ” she said. “He was just very nice and accepting.”

That feeling was mutual. “In any of the questions she asked, there was never a hint of judgment or ‘I hope that you will answer in a specific way,’ ” Gordon said. “So talking about faith was just really comfortable.”

They called it a night around nine o’clock. “It was kind of like, ‘This is nice. I have not screwed up,’ ” Gordon said. He walked her to the Metro, where she thanked him for being normal. He thanked her back, and they hugged. Although you may be wondering what wouldn’t have registered as normal to these two, it’s important to remember that normal is relative. The best you can do is find someone who agrees with and adheres to your definition of normal. For at least one night, Whitney’s and Gordon’s matched.

Rate the date

Gordon: 5 [out of 5]. Meeting Whitney made him feel “re-energized.”

Whitney: 3.9. “I walked away from him smiling.”

Update

A week later, they went mini-golfing. When Gordon asked her out again, Whitney said she didn’t see the relationship going anywhere and they won’t be going out again.