“Are you dating anyone?”

Seems like a simple question, right? However, this week, your humble Cereal Dater will shed some light on how complicated such a question can really be, given the lack of integrity I encountered this week.
First, for my loyal readers curious about Apple Jacks the Yates date … there was no second date. He was older than I expected, I was younger than he expected and we are in different stages in our lives. I’m having a senior-year existential crisis, while he has his whole life planned out. From the get-go, it seemed like he was on the hunt for the future Mrs. Jacks.

On the other hand, I was a nervous wreck and could not be myself. I talked excessively, but not in my usual charming way.

A.J. is gorgeous, intelligent and sweet. He’s destined for greatness, and he’ll make some lucky woman very happy. I’m not that woman. For someone used to clicking with most people I meet, I was crushed when we didn’t hit it off. As my sister advised me and as I’ve come to accept, dating serves to find a different kind of clicking. Practice makes perfect, and I think I can act more like myself on the next date.
Moving forward, this week’s subject could either be called Special K, mainly because he is a special kind of jerk (or Trix, because he is full of them).

We’ll go with S.K. He’s an athlete, an expert at his sport and likely entitled because of it. I briefly met him a few weeks ago at a party where I saw his hands all over one girl then all over another five minutes later, five feet away from the first.

When I saw him during daylight hours, I was mistakenly curious to see if someone like him would be interested in someone like me.

Me: Hi! My name is ____. I met you a few weeks ago at a party. Are you dating anyone?
S.K.: … No.
Me: Would you want to go on a date with me?
S.K.: … Yeah, sure.
After several minutes of conversation,
S.K.: That was brave!
There was some text exchange to schedule this date but a few days after my last unanswered text, I followed up:
Me: Still interested in coffee?
S.K.: Hi this is S.K.’s girlfriend. Don’t text him again.

When I saw my phone screen light up with that text, my stomach dropped. “Do I text back and explain myself? Did he take his phone back from his girlfriend already?” I thought to myself. Suddenly, there was some girl in the world who hated my guts and I didn’t know who it was. Yet, I discovered from people who know his promiscuity well that he certainly does not have a girlfriend. It was all a ploy to stop leading me on.

I refuse to do nothing when people mistreat me, so obviously I called him out for his cowardice and demanded an apology. It never came. Instead of being a real man and saying where he stood from the start, he wasted my time and made me feel terrible, and then infuriated. Instead of being a real man and apologizing, he described the situation as weird and laughed at me.

This week’s dating lesson can be summed up in few words: Mean people suck. It’s not you, it’s him/her. You’re awesome. Until next time, friends. Wish me luck or find me at the new cat cafe on Prospect staring into my future.

The Cereal Dater is a senior in the McDonough School of Business. Resurrect The Date appears every other Friday.