FR -- Pulling a Girl Half My Age (but still legal lol)

Had a date 2 weeks ago with a young girl I met on match. She's 22. I'm 46 (actually 47 as of a few days ago). I'll be honest I shave more than a few years off my age on the match profile, otherwise I'd be filtered out by girls that I know if I met in person not online age wouldn't be an issue. I don't feel great about it but I always tell the girls within the first hour of meeting my real age.

OK, that off my chest, let's get on with this. I was excited and a bit nervous to be meeting a girl so much younger. My sweet spot is probably girls 27 to 33. Even when I was in my mid-20s I seemed to hit it off more with girls in this age range, and this hasn't changed much in 2 decades lol. So 22...I was really curious how this would go.

So, we arrange to meet downtown Vegas at the "Long Bar" at the D Hotel. Never done this before, and when I got there early I was regretting my choice a bit...still I had to run with it. She showed up, sat down at the bar, and we talked a bit. She's wearing really tight jeans, black heels, and a black top with two thin straps showing off of her toned shoulders. Black wavy short hair, 5'8" (slightly taller than me in the heels). Not your typical "hottie" but I like her mild quirkiness and tho her breasts are on the small side I think she has a great body (then again she is half my age lol).

Date starts off slow, I buy first round of drinks and we chat a bit. Turns out she was a Div I athlete at some small college in NY that has no business being in Division I lol, but that explains why she's in such good shape. I had pegged her for more of an artsy type while talking online but she's not really like that. She actually ends up doing most of the talking. It's not really the most exciting first hour, just kinda "chill". We're on adjacent barstools and she's turned toward me and are legs are very close.

My plan is to bounce her to a 2nd bar with a rooftop with a view of Fremont St. First I tell her my real age ... "I'm 46, not 39". She's surprised but not mad and says she's usually into older guys anyway. Cool. We bounce to the 2nd venue.

We arrive after paying a ridiculous cover, and once upstairs we jokingly agree that the music sucks but the view is cool. I buy 2nd round of drinks, we talk for another hour, honestly it's somewhat on the boring side. One interesting detail that did come up is that she lives with her family here in Vegas (moved out here 2 months earlier). I start to feel out logistics, asking her how she came to the date. "Oh my Mom dropped me off" (!!). I feel like I'm back in High School lol. Actually this is good, it means she doesn't have a car which simplifies logistics.

Finally about 1am, 3 hours in, I suggest coming back to my place for a bit to "chill by the pool". She says "ok", with the caveat that "we are not going to sleep together". We walk outside, I grab the first cab (normally I'd do Uber but time is off essence here). Enter my apartment briefly, I take a piss, pour a bit of whiskey for myself, and we head out to the pool. Chill there for a few minutes, start making out...it's going pretty well. I escalate, caressing her breasts and kissing her shoulders, she seems into it. I didn't go further though, and long story short she calls and Uber and heads home.

I thought a 2nd-date was likely, but after texting her a couple days later she says she's really busy and that even though she likes older guys, 24 year age gap is a bit much.

So...what to make of this? It really sorta jarred my reality (in a good way) that I could pull and make out with such a young attractive girl. And honestly I liked her enough I would've considered dating her exclusively for a while. On the flip side, she ultimately rejected me. And yet she willingly came back with me, made out, etc. Seems completely contradictory. My best guess is that she wanted to bang that night, and though I was somewhat aggressive, it wasn't nearly enough. I probably shouldn't have lingered so long outside, got her back into my apartment, and at least gave it a shot. If she wasn't into it, then she just coulda Uber'd back.

I've had this experience before I should note, both with older and younger girls, where it seems as though you have a window where they are into you, you can escalate, but if you don't go far enough and think "Oh, I'll pick this back up on the next date", you never get that chance because they suddenly lose interest. Moral of story: if you're going to err, err on the side of being too aggressive not aggressive enough.