In a perfect world, dates would never be awkward. Nope, not even first dates. You would meet someone in a crowded Italian restaurant on a Friday night, your eyes would meet across the table, and you would both be smiling from ear to ear the whole time. There would not be even a single moment when you didn’t think it was an amazing date. If only that was real life, right? Even if you’re basically a pro at going on dates at this point, you still probably get kind of nervous beforehand. It’s impossible not to. You’re going to be making small talk with a stranger (or at least someone you don’t know very well) and the potential for awkwardness is through the roof. There’s basically no way that the evening won’t be even a little bit awkward. Unfortunately, even when you get past the very first date, things won’t stop being awkward. Here are the 12 most awkward things about dating.
12 Awkward Silences
If you’re on a first date, an awkward silence just comes with the territory. It just can’t be avoided. Even if you know the guy – you could be lifelong friends or coworkers – you’ll still have at least one moment when you have no idea what to say. You’ll get nervous and think what you’re saying sounds silly and you’ll forget the TV show you’ve been obsessed with lately. You’ll feel like you have absolutely nothing to chat about which is so far from being true. He’ll be the exact same way, though, so don’t feel bad at all. Hopefully as the evening goes on you’ll both get less nervous and regain your confidence.
11 Who Asks Who Out?
In the old days – as in, a weird time before Netflix and Instagram – it was always the guy who asked the girl out. There were no two ways about it. Now times have changed and as women are becoming totally kick-ass in every aspect of their lives, from work to relationships, women are becoming totally cool with asking guys out. But you still have to wonder if you should bite the bullet and ask your crush out or if you should wait a little longer and see if he’ll do it. If you ask him out and he didn’t even want to date you in the first place, there’s literally nothing more awkward.
10 Talking About Past Relationships
Ugh. Double ugh. The worst part of a new relationship is that although you’re feeling all warm and fuzzy towards this new person that’s now such an important part of your life, you have to talk about your ex-boyfriends. And he has to tell you about his ex-girlfriends. Neither of you will want to have this chat, but unfortunately it’s just part of the deal. It’ll be super awkward and you’ll both want to cover your ears and sing loudly so you don’t have to hear about your past loves. You will survive, though, and then you can go back to acting all lovey-dovey and never have that conversation ever again.
9 Post-Date Texting
Who is supposed to text who after the first date? In reality, either of you can – there are no rules – but you might think it’s a man’s job and wait. You might be waiting forever though, because maybe he gets super nervous and thinks you don’t like him, so there’s no point in him sending a quick “hey what’s up?” text. If you think your date is shy, you might want to initiate the first text after your first date if you’re feeling a good vibe. No pain, no gain, right?
8 All Those Rules
There are so, so many dating rules, it’s enough to make you never want to enter the dating game. Rules are meant to broken, of course, and everyone knows you don’t have to wait three days after a first date to contact someone or play hard to get. But still, dating is so awkward and confusing because you never know what you’re supposed to say or do. There seem to be so many ways that you could mess up and have the other person never want to see you ever again. Why is it so complicated? What’s the point of that?
7 Meeting The Parents
Even if your parents are super cool and basically like good friends, you’ll still worry that they won’t approve of your new boyfriend or that they’ll embarrass you. You’ll stress about when you should introduce your guy to your mom and dad and wonder if he’ll think you’re moving too fast. When it’s time to meet his parents, you won’t be any less freaked out because you’ll want to make a good impression. You won’t know what to wear or say or how to act. It’s basically the most stressful situation you could ever be in.
6 Meeting The Friends
When you and your boyfriend meet each other’s friend group, it’s even more awkward than meeting each other’s parents. These are the people that you’ve chosen to spend your free time with, after all, and your friendships mean a lot to you. You don’t want your best friend to hate your boyfriend and you’re crossing your fingers that they’ll get along, make each other laugh or at least not totally hate each other. You worry that your boyfriend’s friends are too immature and how that reflects on him. It’s all just a big mess.
5 The Dreaded Talk
You’re sweating just thinking about talking to your new guy about whether or not he wants to become your new boyfriend. This is basically the plot of a twentysomething horror movie. There are so many ways that this conversation can go horribly wrong, and unfortunately you know that eventually you have to bring it up, because otherwise you’re just living in total denial. You’ll find the most awkward time to mention it because that’s the way this kind of thing always goes. And then you’ll both stare awkwardly at each other no matter what the outcome.
4 Sleepovers
No matter what stage you two are at in your newfound coupledom, you’re going to end up staying over at each other’s places. It gets awkward when you’re newly dating and not sure if you should stay though. You won’t want to assume anything and you have no idea what he’s thinking either. You’ll be scared of bad breath (his and yours, to be honest) and what to do about breakfast and whether you’ll even be able to fall asleep. It’s just a lot of awkward worrying. Eventually this stuff becomes totally normal, but it takes a while, especially if you’ve been single for some time.
3 Party Introductions
So you and your guy are having an awesome time together. The chemistry is sky-high and you have lots to talk about 24/7. But there’s one problem: you’re not official yet. But you’re hanging out all the time and bringing each other to parties and events. It’s super awkward because you have to introduce each other and have no idea what to say. You can’t introduce each other as your friend because that’s kind of weird and insulting since you’re so much more than friends. If you stick with your names though, the other person will probably ask if that’s your girlfriend/boyfriend. You just can’t win.
2 Making Plans
Everyone sucks at making plans these days. It’s just an annoying fact of life in 2016. It’s even worse when you’re dating someone or even just trying to set up a first date. You’re busy and so is he, and you wish you both had assistants who could just make the plans for you. It’s so hard to coordinate schedules. Plus you don’t want to offend the other person because yes, you really do want to go out with them, but you don’t want to bail on your best friends or your other plans either. It’s an annoying, awkward balancing act.
1 Being A Control Freak
You can’t help it, but you’re kind of a control freak. You don’t want the guy you’re dating to know that though, and so you do everything in your power to hide that fact. But, of course, you end up failing miserably because no, you don’t want to go to the restaurant that he suggested and you have a bunch of go-to bars that are the only places you want to be seen on a Friday evening. You’re not high-maintenance – okay, maybe you are just a little bit – but you do have your own opinions and you’re not afraid to voice them. Hopefully this whole dating thing works out for you, so your boyfriend will naturally go along with everything you suggest. Just joking. Kind of.
sources: buzzfeed.com
