Last week, I said my weakness was saying goodbye. I lied. It’s stickers.
I swear. If you don’t believe me, check my Hinge profile — I have them listed as my irrational fear.
When Hinge guys like me, they tend to ask what the deal is with that. Sometimes, I get into specifics: Laptop stickers are tolerable, tiny iridescent stickers are not. I don’t like when they’re papery. Tape is fine, pimple patches depend on the day and type.
One of the last guys I matched with didn’t ask about my sticker phobia. He did, however, ask if I wanted to meet up that night. Classy.
I told him I would meet him in a public location, hoping to score a free espresso martini out of the exchange. Oh yeah, I drink espresso martinis now!
Upon receiving this message, the guy — I’ll call him H — told me he actually didn’t think he would be able to meet because he was visiting a friend who was recently dumped and didn’t want to leave him behind. How sweet!
Not ready to give up yet, I suggested he bring his friend and I bring one of mine. It took me less than a minute to convince one of my roommates to hit the town with me.
I told him to meet us at Eby’s — a funky, casual cocktail bar in Florence — at 10:30 p.m. He confirmed.
So, after quickly finishing up one of my assignments (contrary to popular belief, the “study” in “study abroad” is mandatory), my roommate and I embarked on one of the seediest double dates of all time.
The first red flag? Eby’s was closed. No problem, right?
Wrong. Even though we arrived five minutes late, we beat H and his heartbroken buddy. That’s fine — we would sit at one of the tables outside and look for a different bar while we waited, nonchalantly, of course, for them. Maybe Green Street? They have an amazing pumpkin spice espresso martini right now.
If you were sitting with us, you would’ve thought it was bestie night for boys in Florence — the amount of guys we saw walking in pairs was insane. Every time two guys passed us, we’d look at each other as if to say: “Are these our guys?” and “I hope so,” or “Please, no.”
After 5-10 minutes of waiting, I checked my Hinge to see if H messaged me.
What do you know? He unadded me! I wish I was joking.
Thank goodness I showed my roommate his profile. For a second, I was afraid I genuinely imagined the whole exchange.
After staring at each other for about a minute, gobsmacked, I suggested we go to Green Street anyway. We were out and dressed, why waste a cute outfit?
As if we hadn’t been humbled enough, Green Street was closed as well. Serves us right for trying to have fun on a Sunday.
Don’t worry, though, the story has a happy ending. Ready for the third callback to last week? On our way home we decided to hit our favorite pastry bar, Ricordi.
You’ll never believe it, but the guy we like (callback No. 4 if you’re counting) wasn’t there. At least, that’s what we thought, munching on cookies and tortas.
Then, out of nowhere, my roommate’s face lit up. I hadn’t seen her smile since I suggested we go on this cursed expedition. Could it be?
“Ciaooooooo!”
Alas! The only dependable part of the evening, our guy was there and excited to see us. He even gave us one of their new chocolate and pistachio mini tart pastries to try. There was some sort of fruit jam in it, and it was heavenly.
Our spirits were definitely lifted when we left Ricordi. The power of friendship prevailed, reminding us that we are in control of our own destinies and could make the best out of an unfortunate situation together.
Ah, yes, the power of friendship. And the chocolate eclair we devoured on our way home. Thank you, Ricordi!
Sylvie Slotkin is a Medill junior. She can be contacted at [email protected]. If you would like to respond publicly to this op-ed, send a Letter to the Editor to [email protected]. The views expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the views of all staff members of The Daily Northwestern.
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