What My Viral Double-Booked Date From Hell Taught Me About Friendship

On Monday, Aug. 7, six young women in Washington D.C. found themselves at the center of an experience that would go on to reach most of the internet — the now-infamous sextuple-booked date. As documented by 26-year-old Lisette Pylant, the events of that night are now legendary. A friend of a friend of Pylant's booked himself on not one, not two, but six dates in one night at the same bar, leading much of the internet to ask what was he thinking? The experience, while utterly ridiculous, taught Pylant about friendship in some very unexpected ways, as she revealed to Bustle. "[The experience has] been really fun and very empowering for us," she told Bustle via phone.

Rather than brushing it off as the typical shenanigans of mid-twenties dating in a large city, Pylant took to Twitter to document the debacle as it unfolded — and unfold it did as she and the rest of the internet learned, in real time, about the existence of the five other women the guy had booked “pre-dates” with, all within a few hours of each other. Like all viral sensations, Pylant, who works as a barista and office manager, was taken completely by surprise when people like Questlove began responding to her Twitter thread detailing the hilariously messed-up sequence of events.

But even more surprising, Pylant told Bustle, was the way six young, female denizens of D.C.’s notoriously hairy dating scene managed to find friendship among the madness that is dating in the Tinder age. “I think a lot of times, girls and women in general — especially in dating situations — get bad raps for jealousy and going after one another because of men,” Pylant told Bustle in a phone interview while she and some of her newfound girl squad rode from D.C. to New York for an appearance on MTV.

“In a situation like this, one of us could have gotten mad and thrown a drink at each other or at the guy,” Pylant said. “But we just chose to be like, ‘If that's how you're gonna treat one of us, then none of us want you.’"

Instead, Pylant said, she and Kristen Incorvaia, Raven Manigault, Kali Bowers, Alex Woody, and Jess Free — none of whom knew each other prior to the hilarious date from hell — found humor and bonding amid their shared experience of agreeing to go out with a complete jerk.

“It's a really great group of girls,” Pylant said. “We all come from pretty diverse backgrounds — Jess doesn't even live in D.C.”

Pylant and many of the squad have embraced their viral fame, appearing on Good Morning America and MTV. “We've had a lot of fun with it and I think we're all just really glad that we all like each other,” said Pylant.

The response from Pylant’s community has been equally positive — including from male friends like the one who originally introduced her to the date in question. “I've gotten a lot of positive support from all of my friends, and I would say my straight male friends in general have all been super supportive. They've been very happy that we reacted the way we did,” Pylant said. “They feel bad for the dude being an idiot, but he made a choice.”

Of the female support she’s gotten both from her new girl squad and from the countless women who identified and sympathized with her dating horror story, Pylant said she and the rest of the girls are putting their story out there for the sake of feminism. “We're just seeking out solidarity,” Pylant said.

It might not have been the happy ending they intended when they first went out that night, but it looks like Pylant and the rest of her newfound girl squad did find love in a hopeless place this week — the platonic kind.