Anonymous student submission
Wednesday. October 1st, 2025
My day always starts out easy enough, however that couldn’t be farther from the truth. I decided to download a dating app a couple of weeks ago because I figured why not? It’s my second semester as a freshman in college, I’m ready to start going on some actual dates that don’t include somebody’s bedroom or a raggedy fluffed out pillow.
I explored my options on the app for a couple of weeks, not finding much luck. It seemed nobody really wanted to go on a date. Actually, I take that back. One guy was (in his mind) a “rizzler”. I asked him “If we were to go on a date, where would you take us?” He responded with an excited quickness, “There’s this AMAZING Mexican spot that’s all you can eat!” I was curious and said “Well, I do love Mexican food, where is it?”
I opened my phone, not knowing the horror that lay beyond the lockscreen. I kid you not, when I tell you I wanted to pluck my eyes out!? I AUDIBLY gasped and blocked him! It was just too many unsolicited pictures from people that look like they could be my kid and I’m only 19!
However, a couple of days ago I matched with this guy named L who goes to my school. He was white, not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it’s just never something I really explored.
He was… nice enough so I just continued to talk to him and we were texting and he asked “If a wizard turned you into a creature or animal that best resembled you in a way, basically like how you are as a person–what would it be?” and I said “Probably an owl or a crow because I love the color black I’m very wise.”
His answer? A horse. Period, no explanation, no further detail, just “horse.”I said “Why out of all things a horse?” and he said “Well…I’m just gonna have to take you out on a date so you can see.” So I said to myself “I know that’s right.” So we plan the date and everything, he wants us to go to the beach and get something to eat. I wanted to go to the aquarium so we compromised…on the aquarium.
I was like “You know a couple days before, can we maybe just get a drink at Starbucks? You know just to kind of get to know each other a little bit more and so I know you’re not an ax murderer? He said sure! So we picked the date and everything and he said actually I have something on that day but I don’t wanna wait an entire week to see you and I was just like absence makes the heart grow fonder and I was like we can wait till October 8 and I could tell that he was a little seduced and he said OK so we kept talking a little bit and things were great.
I told my boss like I had my first date. It’s at the aquarium and I’m super excited and I just kept hoping that you know, he’d be a nice guy. He’d be sweet, respectful, respectable, and all that jazz and my boss had said something that kind of clicked in my mind and she said do you both have social media where you post frequently and I had figured out that we hadn’t texted off of the dating app so I asked him I said hey do you have Instagram? No response. I happened to be busy at work one day, and mind you, I’d never seen this man off the app.
I look up from my desk, and low and behold, there he was, WITH ANOTHER WOMAN! I looked at him, and he looked at me in this way that seemed like he said “Do not say anything.” I watched them walk out, her happy and giddy, him nervously looking back. I felt my face crack a bit, my eye twitched, and I was staring into the abyss for a few seconds before I realized he was no longer there.
I ask myself now “How could I have let this situation get to me and we weren’t even dating, but I realized, it’s not the fact that I’d grown attached to him, far from that. I had grown fond of the feeling of someone waiting for me to text them, the feeling of someone taking charge to plan the date, make the time, and just tell me to “Get all dolled up and be ready at 7.”
I checked my phone after work, and not to my surprise, he was unmatched with me. He planned out two entire dates the same day that we started talking, took the lead on everything, and even offered to pay for things. I guess that’s why he had a woman the whole time. This all happened in the span from one Tuesday to the next Tuesday. God, why is it always a Tuesday?