GABANNA 

Rate My First Date

First dates are usually pretty awkward. You always lie about yourself, you rarely know what to expect from the other person and you wonder if you’re supposed to offer to pay or not.

Once upon a drunken night Dolce and I went out to a random hole-in-the-wall bar a few towns away from us. We were waiting on the ridiculously long bathroom line when I looked over and saw a really good-looking guy. After pointing him out to Dolce she whispered “I got this” and we started up a conversation with him. Leave it to her to break the ice. I have no clue what she said to him but within seconds she was gone and he introduced himself as Chuck. Naturally the guys line went down first so he got to go before me and when he came out and saw me still standing there he told me that he was going to sit down and order food if I wanted to go hang out.

After another agonizing 10 minutes of waiting I finally went off to find Chuck. He was sitting at a table by himself so I sat down and started talking to him. A few minutes later a bunch of his friends came over and I told him I had to go find Dolce but that I would see him later. After realizing that she started walking to the train since I lied and told her that it was twenty minutes earlier than it actually was, I bumped back into Chuck. I told him that I had to go and I somehow convinced him to ditch his friends and walk me to the train station.

Chuck and I walked and held hands and took our sweet time and he actually gave me a piggy back ride for a few minutes. He waited with me until the train came and he kissed me goodbye and told me that he would text me later.

I got on the train never thinking that I would hear from him again. While Dolce immediately passed out on her guy my phone went off.

“I think I like you.”

Awww. After a few witty text messages back and forth throughout the night he asked me if I wanted to go to the movies with him. I obviously said yes and immediately started freaking out about my first date in almost two years.

The Date

He insisted on coming to my house to pick me up when I offered to meet him at the movie theater (he lives 30 minutes away from me.) After accidentally pulling up in front of my neighbor’s house I decided against letting him embarrass himself by going to their door and walked outside to meet him. Once he realized what he had done he laughed and said that he was planning on doing the chivalrous thing by coming to my door and meeting my parents. Sorry dude, that’s sweet but I wasn’t about to let it happen. I just don’t let anyone meet my family, you’ve gotta be important.

We talked the whole way to the theater and you could tell he was a little shy but kept the conversation flowing the whole time. Once we got inside he paid for my ticket and I told him that I would buy popcorn if he wanted. He seemed kind of taken aback but said okay so I ended up buying the popcorn for us. We found our seats and chatted until the movie started, all the while I wondered if he was going to hold my hand or not since we had already done it when we first met (granted we were drunk, but still).

About a quarter of the way into the movie we both reached for the popcorn at the same time.

“Are you trying to steal my popcorn?!?” I’m such a bitch.

“No I’m just trying to hold your hand.”

“You’re doing a terrible job.”

“My hand-eye coordination is a little off today.”

“Do you want some help?”

FINALLY. We held hands the rest of the movie and once it was over he asked if I wanted to get a drink somewhere. We drove around until we found a little restaurant that had live music and he bought the first round of beers and I bought the second. We hung out there for about two hours just getting to know each other and we ended up kissing on our way back to the car. He dropped me off at home and kissed me again and told me how much fun he had and how he couldn’t wait to do it again.

Pros

-He picked me up and tried to meet my parents (so chivalrous)

-He bought the tickets

-He bought me a drink

Cons

-He let me pay (which I don’t care about but according to friends a girl isn’t supposed to pay on the first date)

-Didn’t make a set plan for a second date. Even though he said he wanted to do it again he didn’t ask me when I was free.

Moral of the Story

- I thought it was a great date but after talking to friends they pointed out a few red flags. I know that I personally have no issues paying for myself, but it is nice to be treated every once in a while, especially on the first date.