Myles Anderson won’t let an awkward Valentine’s Day get in the way of finding love.
Valentine’s Day: a time for romance, cheesy gifts and high potential for awkward situations. While personally uncomfortable, such awkward romantic encounters provide for comical reflections.
Myles Anderson
It was freshman year of high school, and Myles Anderson’s brother and cousin knew of a girl named Jessica from a neighboring town who wanted to go on a date with him. Anderson got her number from them, and they began texting. They talked for a few weeks until Valentine’s Day was just around the corner. In one of their many conversations, they decided to meet up at a movie theater on Valentine’s Day.
Anderson’s parents, excited that he was going on a real date, dropped him off at the movie theater. Anderson bought one ticket for “Confessions of a Shopaholic” (her pick) and walked into the theater to find her if she was already there or save her a seat if she wasn’t there yet. She never showed up.
Apparently, his brother and cousin gave him the phone number and made up Jessica from the beginning. To this day, Anderson doesn’t know who was texting him back. He also has no idea who was in on the shenanigan.
“I was the first Manti Te’’o,” he said.
Dayne Logan
A few years ago when he and his now-wife Rachel had been dating for three years, she wanted to surprise him for Valentine’s Day. A romantic date was planned to take place in the town’s large nature preserve, but Rachel didn’t want him to know where they were going. She blindfolded him and drove around for about half an hour.
When the car stopped and Dayne’s blindfold was removed, they were parked on the side of one of the roads that go through the reserve. The stars were out, so they opened the driver’s door and trunk of the car, turned on some music and danced underneath the night sky.
“We danced for about 20 minutes because it was February, keep in mind,” Dayne said. Even though we weren’t in Iowa, it was still cold.”
Dayne went to shut the trunk as the wind also blew the door shut. The keys were inside; they were locked out. Although Dayne is good with directions, Rachel isn’t the best navigator. Because Dayne had been blindfolded, his skills were of no use. To make matters worse, there weren’t many cars out because it was a brisk February night.
They called some friends who had to honk their way through the large reserve to find the stranded couple. Once they got there, the group found a hanger and started to pry the door open. They succeeded after about an hour.
“It was a lovely idea that had some flaws,” Dayne said.
Kyle Cleveringa
For Valentine’s Day at school, candygrams were going to be sent out. As a senior in high school, Kyle Cleveringa wanted to have a little fun with it and play a joke on his physiology teacher.
He sent her a candygram asking her to go to prom with him, along with a cute poem about the classroom skeleton she broke. Knowing she wouldn’t take it too seriously, he thought it was the perfect joke.
Cleveringa had her class the day the candygrams were delivered, so he and a few friends asked if she had received any. She tried playing it off by saying she got a few and not making a big deal about anything, but the boys knew what had really happened.
After school, Cleveringa returned home to find his mom waiting for him. She told him they had received an email from the principal and they were required to go back to the school to meet with the principal. He started freaking out and telling his mom the entire story, how it was all just a joke.
“I was so nervous and instantly regretted the entire thing,” he said.
After his pleas and apologies, Cleveringa’s mom told him she was kidding about the meeting.
Unbeknownst to Kyle, his teacher emailed his mother to tell her that Cleveringa was a pleasure to have in her class and also about the joke. His mom then took liberty to take the joke and twist it back on Kyle.
Everyone got a good laugh out of it, and Cleveringa’s teacher even kept the candygram in a desk drawer for the rest of the year.
If you find yourself to be one of the unfortunate souls who gets trapped in an awkward situation, be happy. Your story isn’t published for all to see.