By: Melissa Howard (University of Delaware)
As college students, our schedules consist of class, studying, maybe an extracurricular or two and lots of partying. It seems college students across the nation live by the unofficial slogan “Work hard, play harder.'” Since it is near impossible to meet a potential boyfriend/girlfriend while you are studying for your Organic Chemistry test, people are meeting each other while partying.
Drunkenly meeting kind of changes the way the game is played. Traditionally, people meet, date, hook up, and then begin a relationship. Drunken meetings switch around the order just a bit.
Step One: The Drunken Hook Up. With red cup in hand, boy sees girl he thinks is hot from across the room. He goes up to her and maybe the two talk for a while before he asked her to dance/basically have dry sex on the dance floor. The boy and girl start making out and he asked her if she wants to come back with him. Drunk girl thinks he is cute and we are having a lot of fun, why not?
Step Two: Continuous Texting. Girl and boy wake up the next morning, engage in some small talk, exchange numbers and girl does her walk of shame back to her dorm. She receives a text later in the day. “Hey I had so much fun hanging out with you last night,”- boy. Obviously its nice to get a thanks for last night text the next day but, it does not mean he’s just that into you. Boy and girl text back and forth for a few hours about everything from their favorite sports teams to how Sociology 301 is the most annoying class ever. The next day boy texts girl again and they flirt for another few hours. This repeats for a week or two. Continuous texting shows boy is interested in girl as more than just a one night stand.
Step Three: The Sober Hang Out. During the time boy and girl are continuously texting each other, they will probably see each other at parties and have another drunk hook up or two. Then, one day girl gets a text from boy. “What are you doing Wednesday around 4?” Girl answers, “Idk, I don’t think I have any plans, why?” “I just wanted to know if you wanted to come over. Maybe we can watch Twilight so you can show me what is so great about it,” boy writes back. Girl excitedly answers, “Yea that sounds like fun.”
On Wednesday, girl goes to boy’s house to watch Twilight. It is the first time the two have hung out sober, so both feel a little awkward. As the movie starts, the anxiety subsides. Boy and girl watch the movie, cuddle and boy makes fun of the sparkly vampire, Edward Cullen. They laugh and flirt while the movie is on until boy kisses girl and the two start hooking up. This could go on for hours. The sober hang out shows boy and girl enjoy each others company and just may really like each other.
Step Four: A Real Date. Boy and girl soberly hang out and text each other almost every day for the next few weeks or month. They are hooking up regularly and having sleep overs, even on school nights, and have already become best friends with each others’ roommates. One day boy CALLS, not texts, girl. “Hey do you want to get dinner on Friday night at 7, just you and me?” he asks. “Yeah I would love to,” answers girl. Boy and girl have gone to get breakfast at their favor bagel shop after one of their sleepovers before and had dinner with each others’ roommates, but they have never had a one on one dinner date before. Girl spends hours getting ready and wears a dress and heels, while boy shows up in a nice button down. The two talk and enjoy a nice dinner, just like the dates our parents went on back in the day.
Step Five: The Relationship. After spending a month hanging out, hooking up, meeting friends and going on a real date or two, boy and girl start to feel very comfortable with each other. They are happier when they are together, tell each other everything and cannot imagine their life before meeting. Boy and girl think they are in love, so boy asks girl to be his official girlfriend. Girl giddily says yes. Nothing really changes in boy and girl’s relationship except the title, but the title allows them to live happily ever after… at least for now.
