I'm not sure if this counts as a date since I was pretty much tricked into it, but here goes. Last year, a friend of mine asked me if I would go to a football game with him. I'm not too crazy about sports, especially football, but he told me a few other friends would be coming along, and since I was really stressed from work and school, I decided a night off would do me good. The night of the game rolled around and he came to pick me up, but instead of the car full of people I was expecting, it was just him. Then he asked me if I wanted to go to dinner with him. This should have sent red flags waving furiously in my head, but I hadn't eaten all day and my reply came straight from my stomach without bothering to go through my brain. I was mildly impressed that he took me to one of the nicest restaurants in Seattle, but that didn't last long. He kept acting as if we were on a real date, asking me weird personal questions and staring at me, so I turned the conversation to my fiancé (whom I have been with since I was fifteen) and kept flashing my beautiful, beautiful one-carat, heart-cut, pink diamond engagement ring in his general direction. My "date" finally got the point about halfway through dinner, but instead of backing off and respecting me, he got mad. He even had the nerve to tell me to pay for my own half of the bill! I would have bailed right then, but he had given me a ride to the restaurant and it was a long walk back home, so I went to the football game with him anyways. There, he gave me the cold shoulder and left me to my own devices, which was fine with me! It turned out my cousin had also come to the game (not that much of a coincidence--he's always at home games, so I was expecting him) and he was more than happy to give me a ride home. -- Tricia, 22