My first date was with a girl I met at someone’s birthday party. At the time, we were both 15 and she cold approached me that night were we swapped phone numbers. Now, one might think “Wow, go Adrian! You must’ve really impressed her :)”. Which of course I did, who does not like a boy who just awkwardly nods to all your questions? Questions such as “Whens your birthday?”

My suave demeanor just woos women – enough to get a date but beyond that, its questionable at best.

Our first date went almost the same as our first encounter. “What hobbies do you have?” Such a tough question… it caught me offguard and needed time to think so I just shrugged it off as a response. I think she might still be waiting for an answer. Regardless, she was still into me, a bit too much maybe. The mysterious Adrian persona was doing its magic.

But sadly I wasn’t really feeling it so I just ended up rejecting her. So tragic, I know.

Fast forward to 2021, I’ve been with a few women, pretty experienced I’d say. But I never really had to go on actual first dates with them, I just knew them already as friends. So, when I had my first tinder date, it pretty much went the same as my first.

It was a very hot summer in Baltimore, 97F to be exact. No clouds, just raw sunshine on your face. We met up at a weed shop where she wanted to buy some paraphernalia. I do not remember her face, I was so nervous I don’t think I looked into her eyes even once. We ended up walking around baltimore just talking, but I never really gave answers just mostly nods. I thought the date was a success at first, until now that I realize how bad it actually was lol.

Surely, I’ve learnt from this, right? Well yeah, but I think only after a year of dating and maybe like 20??? different people. Before the last 2 people I’ve gone on dates with, all the dates have been this silent awkward mess and I just believed thats how dates usually go.

My relevation came with a 9/11 joke done in passing. The issue usually is that my brain is so clouded by other social necesseties like making eye contact and coming up with questions to ask. However, in this date it all didn’t matter. Conversation flowed and I didn’t feel any social pressure. To the point that we passed the 9/11 memorial (which is a replica of one of the twin towers), I made the observation in shock of “Woahhh!!! I thought all the buildings had gone down.”

She could not stop laughing that we had to stop in place for her to get her breath back. It was hilarious but I wasn’t even trying to be funny, it was just a legit observation I came up with – not knowing that every state has a memorial for 9/11. The key takeaway that I could actually form a sentence about something I’ve observed and deliver it with a funny demeanor, as if I was a normal human being.

Nontheless, we didn’t really date after this lol. But hey! Dates have been kinda easier? To the point a girl I went out with recently seemed very surprised when I told her I’m a very shy person.

I’ve successfully leveled up autism masking to the max, so maybe the real dating starts now? Idk, we’ll see :-).