why did he ghost me after our first date

I went on a first date that lasted hours. We talked, we laughed, we flirted. He complimented my appearance.

After we left, he texted that he'd gotten home safely and that he had fun. Then nothing.

Different person, same app. This one also went on for hours. More talking, more laughing. He complimented me too. He never wrote back.

I kept replaying both nights. If they weren't interested, why stay for hours? Why flirt? Why compliment me? Why send a message afterward saying they had fun? I started wondering if I'd misread everything. Maybe the laughter wasn't as mutual as I thought. Maybe they were just being polite. But hours of politeness? Compliments? Saying they had fun? That didn't add up.

Maybe chemistry isn't the same thing as enjoying someone's company. Maybe you can have a nice time and still know you don't want a second date. Or maybe this is just how dating apps work now. You meet someone, you have a perfectly fine evening, and then you both drift because there's always another profile, another conversation, another option that might feel more like something.

I don't know which explanation is true. I don't know if the dates actually went well or if I just thought they did. I don't know what signal I missed or if there was one to miss.

What I know is that twice, I left a date thinking it went somewhere, and twice, I was wrong.