Once in a relationship, you can laugh at embarrassing situations and brush them aside fairly easily. But in the early stages of hooking up, awkward moments are harder to overcome. When something uncomfortable happens you often don’t know what to do — and let’s face it, early hookups present endless chances for embarrassment.

So, in these circumstances, what is the best way to make the most of the moment?

My freshman year a friend was hooking up with a senior guy. The two of them were sleeping together one night when, at 6 a.m., she woke herself up. Actually, her loud fart jerked her awake. Startled and alarmed at the situation she silently hoped the guy hadn’t heard. Terribly unfortunate for her, though, he rolled over and opened his eyes asking, “Did you just fart?” Horrified, she mumbled a good-bye and left.

There are times when ignoring something is preferable to acknowledging the obvious. If you don’t know a person well, this situation is one of the better examples of when to keep silent.

And when you’re hooking up, make sure to control yourself enough to avoid injuries. My guy friend is in Italy where he met a new girl to hook up with. The first night she went down on him. In the middle she was tickling his leg lightly and he suddenly twitched, jerking his knee abruptly into her nose. Next thing he knew she was bleeding profusely, and the two of them had to stop everything to get her ice and medical attention. Turns out the girl broke her nose. So if you’re going to get at all kinky, be prepared for consequences.

For guys, coming at the wrong moment is one of the most embarrassing things that can happen. Last year a guy friend hooked up with a girl he barely knew after a drunk night at the Deuce. The two of them went back to his house and were making out intensely on his bed, but, except for his pants, all their clothes were on. She didn’t want to have sex, so they kept kissing for a while when he suddenly stopped. He had come, getting it on his boxers and her shirt and jeans. He went to the bathroom and the girl left.

I don’t have advice on how to avoid that situation.

But if something embarrassing does happen in a young hookup there is still always a chance the relationship will blossom and the couple will one day look back and laugh. For instance, last year a girl had hooked up with a guy a few times when one morning she woke up and her back was wet. She has never sweat much, but on this particularly hot May day, she figured maybe it could be a possibility.

She continued to hook up with the guy, though, and after five months they were in a relationship when he confessed that he had actually peed on her that night. He had just been too embarrassed to tell her.

So if something awkward happens with a new hook up, the relationship isn’t necessarily a goner, and the incident can become a humorous afterthought. After all, life is much funnier when you look back and laugh at yourself every now and then.4

Medill junior Sarah Bailey is the PLAY sex columnist. He can be reached at [email protected].