Dating in high school is synonymous with awkwardness. From asking one out to going on a date, there are many opportunities to embarrass oneself and risk ruining what could be a good thing. Let’s hear from students who have experienced some of the more awkward dating encounters.

Megan Dinneen

Senior Megan Dinneen had an uncomfortable encounter with a student from Oakton on their first and only date after the two met at an Oakton choir concert, at which Dinneen’s friend was performing.

“He seemed really cool and we were both really into music,” Dinneen said. “He asked for my number and if he could see me again, and we made a date for Panera.”

When she arrived, she was very excited and looking forward to the what was about to the date; however, the date only went downhill from there.

“He spent the entire time talking about how [he thought that] Christianity is the only acceptable religion, [about how] evolution wasn’t real and homosexuality is sickening,” Dinneen said. “I’m not religious myself, and I respect religion greatly, but I got about three sentences in the entire time.”

After him talking for about an hour and scaring away the people who had sat down next to them, the date finally ended. Soon after she left, he texted Dinneen explaining that the date was Christ reaching out to her and that he was a personal messenger from God. When she texted back that she didn’t think this was going to work out, he responded with an interesting fact, one that would have been good to know at the start of the date.

“He also had failed to mention that he had a girlfriend,” Dinneen said. “He was just going out with me to see if there were ‘other options available.’”

Eli Rothleder

Junior Eli Rothleder’s first date ended abruptly when the girl called it off halfway through.

For the first hour, the conversation was flowing and the date seemed to be going well.

“I was at a date with this girl, and I thought it was going pretty well. We were just hanging out at Starbucks for about an hour,” Rothleder said. “We talked about generic first-date stuff: favorite food, sports, classes and the works. She seemed interested, and we were having a good time.”

The conversation then stopped abruptly, and she gave Rothleder a weird look, like he had suddenly turned into a different person.

“Then she sighed and said ‘Look, I really like you, but this isn’t going to work out,’” Rothleder said.

Internally, Rothleder was really confused and tried to figure out what he had done. However, in order to not make the situation even more awkward, he respectfully went along with what she said.

She then got up, thanked him and left, all of this happening in the middle of a normal conversation.

“I just sort of sat there for a minute or two, and then I just got up and left,” Rothleder said. ”I’ve seen her maybe two times since.”

Rothleder has seen the girl two or three times since in tense, uncomfortable moments.

Steven Schwarz

Senior Steven Schwarz has also had his fair share of bad situations on dates. One specific event involved a little bit of sickness.

“I went on this date last spring and we planned to go to Panera, and then see the movie ‘Zootopia,’” Schwarz said.

However, that is where everything stopped going as planned. Schwarz got nervous in the middle of the date and ran to the bathroom.

“I started vomiting and then, in horror, had to wash my face off,” Schwarz said.

After vomiting he struggled to take the towels out of the dispenser, so he didn’t wash his face well enough. As a result, there was some vomit still left on his face.

“I didn’t splash my face off enough, so I told her the faucet broke,” Schwarz said.

Even after Schwarz cleaned up the rest of his face, there wasn’t any way to salvage the rest of the date.