Here are 10 true stories from people who tried, with varying degrees of success, to answer the eternal question: “Is this a date?”
Chris Ritter / BuzzFeed
Somewhere in the camp of our second to fifth time hanging out, we were walking around the Upper East Side, got some beers, and decided to drink them on a bench in the park along the East River. The cops drove by several times and totally didn't care about what we were doing, but we didn't realize that it had gotten late and the park closed at 1 a.m.
At approximately 1:05 a.m., a cop car pulled up behind our bench.
TURNS OUT my date had been arrested the past New Year's Eve for public urination (I like 'em classy). That cop had chucked him on the ground, and when he tried to shield his face, they said he was obstructing an officer. After a night in jail, he got community service, which he did, but he hadn't filed the paperwork yet, which meant there was an active warrant out for his arrest.
The giddiness of what had honestly been a really fun date was fading pretty quickly! Two other cop cars showed up too, so it was six cops versus the two of us, so we couldn't even fight 'em off. To get a rise out of him they finally, classily, insinuated that I was a hooker, but he stayed calm (or unchivalrous, depending on how you look at it). Then, when he was in the back of the cop car, the cop turned to me and was like, "Ma'am, you should really leave, the park isn't safe at this time of night." And I was like, there are six police officers here ... but I guess I'll WALK OUT ALONE!
I walked home but I had to pee soooooo badly from the beer, and the hour it took them to arrest my date, so on my way home I hopped a fence and peed in a really pretty Park Avenue church garden and I'm NOT SORRY.
Chris Ritter / BuzzFeed
I moved to New York for a new job just over a year and a half ago. When I announced my relocation on Twitter, I received an email from a name I vaguely recognized. "I hope you're settling into the city and your new job with ease. I've been meaning to get in touch and invite you for a drink," she wrote. "It's been so long, we have so much to catch up on."
After some momentary confusion, I realized we went to college together. But despite attending a small, liberal arts college, I didn't really know this person at all.
I met her at a local bourbon joint and we chatted and I made things incredibly awkward by point-blank asking if this was a date or a booty call or whatnot. It wasn't, but the next week she invited me out on what was very explicitly a date. We went on excursions a few more times, but there was eventually a mutual, if unspoken, agreement that we were not destined for a romantic relationship based on some updated When Harry Met Sally meet-cute. On the upside: She has become a good friend and confidant.
