So you go to the bar, meet a girl or guy, hit it off, go all the way…and then you realize you’re just not that into it. There are several different ways to deal with this situation. You could bluntly tell your one-night-stand in person, you could write a polite but brutal note or you could just leave. Sometimes referred to as the ghost date, it’s not uncommon for people to sneak out after sleeping over without a trace, leaving the other person with nothing but a memory.
The ghost date takes different forms, but each one promises to be just as embarrassing and awkward for everyone involved.
“I went to a concert and saw this hot girl who seemed like she could be fun for the night," said John T., a second-year student at Rockland Community College. “We danced, ate, and then went back to her house. We had a really great night but she wanted something more and I knew this was just a one-night thing for me, so the next morning I left while she was sleeping and ‘forgot’ to leave her my number.”
Another variation can involve someone leaving after what seemed to be an eventful date, knowing that they will never try to see the other person again. The person may not sneak out without the other one knowing, but the humiliation is just as devastating when there is no follow-up to the date.
“I hooked up with this guy after watching The Lion King and then he wanted to go sleep but it wasn't even 11 p.m. so I left,” said Brandon P., a junior at Stanford University. “In the morning he texted me ‘wakey wakey eggs ‘n bacy’ and something told me it just wasn't meant to be.”
Then there’s just the plain old mean approach. One student ditched his girl because she “resembled a gremlin,” and he didn’t want to ever remember the encounters they shared.
“It wasn’t an abnormal night for me, but I ended up getting blackout drunk and some random girl ended up texting me asking me to come over,” said Geoff Ward, a freshman at University of Connecticut. “The next morning I woke up to find out she resembled a gremlin, so naturally I gathered all my clothes as quietly as I could and made my escape. [Judging] by the obnoxious amount of texts I received when she woke up, we had various plans to do god-knows-what in the morning. But come on, I mean I wouldn’t have been surprised if she had crawled out of a gutter previous to our interactions.”
Whichever method you choose, executing the ghost date could brand you for the rest of your college career. You could soon be known as that a**hole who walked out or the person who just uses people for sex. So choose your approach wisely, and if you’re going to attempt the ghost date, make sure you really do leave without a trace so it doesn’t haunt your college reputation.
