My Friend Accidentally Cockblocked My First Date, Here’s What Happened
Growing up, bombarded by the media and the idealistic romances portrayed in fiction, we develop so many expectations as to what a first date should be like and how it should go. I’d never been on a date before, but I knew that I really liked this guy, so I wanted it to be perfect.
Planning the perfect date…
I asked my crush if he wanted to go to dinner and see a movie with me, following our friendship group’s outing to a museum. To my delight, he said yes and I went ahead with planning our night – what time we’d grab dinner, which restaurant, the movie theatre we’d go to and the time slot.
We’d been chatting over text and in person a lot so I was sure that the night would go along swimmingly. I’d known my crush for about two months, and the latter half of that time was filled with me being a lovesick mess who caught feelings way too hard. I wanted this night to be perfect, just the two of us chatting and having a good time, and if he had a positive experience then maybe it would lead to a second date.
However, there was one thing I hadn’t anticipated. The one anomaly that sent my romantic, teenage dreams crumbling before me.
My friend cockblocked my date.
After our trip to the British Museum, everyone was outside the entrance, saying farewells and getting ready to head home and part ways. “Great, everything is going to plan,” I thought. I go to my date and ask him if he’s ready to go. We say bye to the group and make our way down the street.
That’s when one of our guy friends asked where we were going. I told him that we were grabbing dinner – my biggest mistake. To this day I have no idea what was going through his head, but he self-invited himself along. Excuse me, what? Now that I look back, he was probably just hungry and too dense to realise that this was a DATE and that he just cockblocked me – but his hunger must have overpowered all other senses and reasoning.
There was an awkward silence for a good minute. All our friends looked back and forth between the interaction. No one knew that I liked my crush, but as soon as I said “dinner” a lightbulb lit up above everyone’s head (except for our one friend). At this point, it was too awkward to explain that I liked my crush in front of everyone, so I just let him tag along.
How was I feeling? I was pretty mad.
But I was also dumbfounded and shocked more than anything. Couldn’t he read between the lines? The late-night walk that I envisioned with my date turned into me being the third wheel as they talked the whole way there.
I was furious at the time, but looking back having an extra person there actually helped to calm my nerves and break the ice over dinner. Even though it wasn’t what I planned, I eventually had a good time. A friend of mine had recommended this Thai restaurant in Oxford Circus and the food was pretty good, albeit a little overpriced (but that’s central London for you).
Fortunately for me, he left after dinner and didn’t tag along to the movie. He later disclosed that it was on the bus home that he realised what he’d done, and was internally apologising to my date for cockblocking him.
It wasn’t what I expected, but that didn’t make it bad.
The rest of the date went pretty well and we made it to the cinema on time. When I got home, I remember feeling so upset and frustrated about what happened, and how it wasn’t the perfect first date that I dreamed it to be.
Today it’s one of my favourite stories and one that I joke about with friends. My crush had a good time and a couple of weeks after that incident became my boyfriend, we’ve been together for two years now. While it wasn’t a fairytale first date, that one mistake has made it so much more memorable. It’s a story that we now laugh about and look back at fondly.
