These Would Have Improved High School Dates

Dating in high school felt so real at the time, but looking back now you probably cringe at how much emphasis you put on holding hands with someone you'd spoken to on the phone twice. High school dating was awkward, sometimes horrifically so, and if you could build a time machine and go back to when you were 15 you'd probably have some good advice for your younger self. I, for instance, would tell my younger self that showing your date how you could fit a whole cheeseburger in your mouth at once is not a sexy look. Although I must say I have managed to impress multiple guys with my competitive eating skills, so maybe older me is wrong after all.

What was missing from your high school dates? What would you do differently, if you could? And if that time machine was real, what would you tell your former self from behind a bush like some weird future pervert? Every high school date needed a visit from the future, but realistically, there were other things we needed more. And maybe by enumerating them here, we can inspire new high schoolers dating to adopt some of these policies...

1. Friends

Dating when you're a teenager is a weird concept. What is actually going to happen? You have awkward conversation, probably go see a movie, and maybe hold hands if one of you is bold enough to "make a move". High school dates all needed more friends. Just groups of teenagers hanging out to take the edge of the whole "date" thing. It would have been a hell of a lot easier to get to know someone if both you and they were more relaxed and around friends, rather than one on one and acting like little mute weirdos not knowing what to do, trying to hide the profuse sweating. Kids don't need to do dates like adults do, because duh, they're kids.

2. Privacy

Everyone knew all your business in high school. Every single person in your year, friend or not, knew who was dating whom, and the intimacies of that, too. How much more comfortable and easy would high school dating be if there were more privacy?

3. Communication Before And After

Communication is a hugely formidable thing for teenagers to embrace and do properly. But high school dates needed a healthy dose of communication, both before and after the date. Most of the time, where friends are relaying messages, or communication is phone based only, a lot gets lost in translation. For instance, the ability to actually talk to one another face-to-face.

4. More Creative Destinations

Making out at the movies was the date destination du jour in high school. I'd venture to guess it still is now. But why pay to sit in the dark and kiss, not really getting to know anything other than the inside of your dates mouth? High school dates needed to be more creative. Go to the arcade and play games. Have a picnic. Go for a walk in a nice location. High school dates really could have benefitted from more dynamic destinations.

5. Better Kisses

If you ever kissed in high school then you know how gross it was. Every high school date desperately needed better kissing skills.

6. Fewer Dates

The one thing high school dates really needed? Fewer dates! It's high school! Leave the crappy, awkward, weird dating for adulthood and try to chill before you spend the next 15 odd years on a series of progressively more depressing, bad, or otherwise unremarkable dates. Do your homework or something. Get a hobby. Be productive. High school dates would benefit from not being the be-all-end-all of high school life.

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