Three words you don’t want to hear before the first date…

I had been unofficially dating this guy for a week or two when IT happened.

Perhaps I should provide the background story. I was in grad school and had known this guy for a few months. We were friends but I could tell that it was turning into something more. Once after studying at the grad office we had gone out for dinner and he paid. (Previously we had mostly hung out together with friends.) He asked me to dinner on another occasion for what I would have called the first date but it didn’t work out. (I think he forgot or something equally irritating.)

So we both went to a grad party to celebrate the end of a semester. He had a little to drink and gathered the courage necessary to hold my hand. (Yeah I know this sounds very junior high…I’m getting there.) Anyway after a while we went back to my place. We watched TV and there was some awkward conversation before he started kissing me. It wasn’t bad...we were just innocently making out (although I could tell he wouldn’t have minded something less innocent).

Then he said it…those three little words that every girl wants to hear…but not before the first date…you guessed it, he said “I love you”!! Thoughts wildly raced through my mind as I searched for the most appropriate response. (Seriously how do you respond to such a bold declaration of love before you have even officially been on a date? The only time I had heard of this happening was in a chick flick…sadly chick flicks don’t translate well in the real world.)

Ultimately I took the non-decision route. I choose not to acknowledge his declaration of love and I continued to kiss him. After a while I told him that it was time for him to go…after which I, of course, proceeded to freak out! Sadly, the premature “I love you” marked the turning point in this “relationship”…the beginning of the end.

Hereafter, he will be referred to as the Premature “I love you” guy.