In the spring, a cutie in pastel may show up with a bouquet of freshly bloomed wildflowers for you. In the winter, you and your love may bundle up in cozy sweaters by a romantic firelight. In the fall, your fling may be the perfect accessory for basic pumpkin patch Instagrams, besides PSLs that is. But in the summer, all the rules fly out your open car window. Summer flings heat up under the sun, quench your thirst like a piña colada and wash away with the tide once back to school shopping begins. Let these five summer loves leave footprints on your beach this summer.
Keep reading for the 5 summer flings that make you swoon whenever the temperature heats up.
1. Hometown Hottie
You doodled his name on your notebooks. You made excuses to pass by his locker before class. You didn’t have a chance in high school, but all the liquid courage available to you in college gave you the tools you need to fake the confidence needed to slide into his DMs. You and the hometown hottie definitely have a chance to hookup now that you both had a taste of life without cliques, high school drama and curfews. Whether you’ve known him since the first grade, went to high school together or casually stalked him at the local ice cream shop where he worked, college erased any preexisting dynamic between the two of you so you can start fresh. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and make sweet 16 you proud.
2. Coworker Crush
Everyone claimed to have their first kiss at summer camp (no matter how dubious the details), so the circle of life dictates that your job as camp counselor equals getting some action behind closed cabin doors as well. If you aren’t bunking with your crush in the middle of the woods, you’re probably sweating it out behind a counter working in some retail hell. The real heat, though, comes from the chemistry between you and your cute coworker. Long hours working a summer job mean you and your coworkers need a release at the end of the day. Clock out and make out with the girl who complimented your standard issue uniform pants–not for your compliance with company uniform but for your perky behind.
3. Beach Babe
The “beach babe phenomenon” makes you thirst for the hot shirtless guy solely based on ass(ets) while completely disregarding any personality flaws. When the temperatures rise, the standards for dress code lowers, and you can scope out shirtless hunks or babes in barely-there bikinis and crop tops anywhere from the gym to the street. Who cares if you don’t know their last name. So what if the number of times they say “dude” in a day excels their IQ? At least you have someone whose Instagram pictures instantly activate drools from your jealous friends.
4. Convenient Cutie
For those from small towns, the dating pool shrinks dramatically when coming home for the summer. Being home for the summer may take changing your Tinder settings to max distance to find someone who hasn’t seen you grow up through the awkward braces and acne stage, or whom you always run into at the grocery store. Sometimes, when the thirst gets too real, you may have to settle for the convenient cutie. You wouldn’t write home to the group chat about this summer love, but he’s only a short drive from your house, and he can sneak you into the community pool for free. Sometimes convenience wins over the single life when another night at home playing Yahtzee with the ‘rents is the only excitement on the horizon.
5. Lecture Hall Looker
You’ve seen him around campus before, but the lecture hall looker doesn’t really come into focus until the two of you coincidently sign up for the same summer class. You begin this romance over casual homework questions, progress into flirty study dates and then, in the final exam of your flirtation, ask him to make things more than academic. Taking classes during the warmer months can make summer a drag, but if you drag your cute classmate out of his desk and out with you, you can turn the summer around in no time.
Summer Lovin’, Can it Last?
Written by Alexis Gutter, junior, journalism, University of Maryland
Summer flings are an annual tradition afflicted on many a single person looking for some companionship for those summer nights (uh well-a uh well-a well-a huh). Whether the influx in passion is due to rising temperatures, rising hemlines or lack of classes, what happens when late August rolls around and you’re not ready to put out the fire?
For self-proclaimed summer romance pro, Fordham University senior, Dave Yusavitz took three summers with his hometown fling to decide that their situation should be given the chance to travel beyond the convenience of the academic off-season.
Convenience, Yusavitz said, is the biggest reason that summer flings solidify themselves, and their school-year inconvenience is why many fail.“If I didn’t like her and she didn’t like me, then it wouldn’t have worked once school started because we wouldn’t have gotten anything out [of] it,” Yusavitz said.
However, noting that it took three summers for Yusavitz’s feelings of legitimacy towards his fling to manifest, it’s important to understand what happens when feelings stay short-term and fleeting.
Psychotherapist author of Money, Sex and Kids: Stop Fighting about the Three Things That Can Ruin Your Marriage, Tina B. Tessina, said while fun, flings can be unhealthy and emotionally dangerous because if one half may feel that the physical component means commitment and the other feels differently, someone’s going to end up hurt and the relationship will ultimately crumble. “On the other hand, if you can have a fling and just be left with nostalgia (and no STDs), it could make a lovely memory,” Tessina said.
For Boston University junior Audrey Chomsky, her summer fling began under the stars at camp and was the perfect end to her long days as a counselor. But that very first night, she told her beau that when the summer ended, so would they. “I decided to go to college away from home so that nothing would hold me back,” Chomsky said. “Even though I was crazy about him, I didn’t want him to get in the way of that. But I imagine summer romances that are meant to last are more powerful than my determination to end them.”
Even though Chomsky’s fling didn’t traverse seasons, she still regards it as happy ending, calling it both special and meaningful.
Outside of maintaining low maintenance expectations, Tessina advised keeping standard relationship protocol. “The most important aspect of summer dating, in addition to having a good time, is to get to know each other better,” Tessina said.
Yusavitz agreed that summer flings are like miniature relationships and the obligation to keep things casual could be why his took so long to become official. “Throughout the years, we kept in touch, but this summer, I decided something could become of it,” Yusavitz said. “We talked about it a little and realized that we really enjoyed our time together, so we decided to try out a long distance relationship during the year. “
Yusavitz said that keeping things realistic and maintaining good communication is crucial for a smooth summer fling to-fall romance transformation.
So, if this summer you happen to meet a girl crazy for you or a boy cute as can be, once the summer days start drifting away, don’t necessarily throw in the beach towel. Examine your relationship and decide with your partner if your fling can maintain the heat once the temperature cools.
*Updated August 3, 2016 by Alexis Gutter to include “Summer Lovin’, Can it Last?”
