3 weeks before: You start to realize that your date function is coming up pretty soon, but eh it’s still so far in the future.
2 weeks before: You start browsing your go-to websites searching for a dress and put a few in your cart, but you figure you’ll get around to ordering them later. Unless you have a boyfriend, you have a few ideas for who you will bring but you put the whole situation on the back burner as your week gets busy.
10 days before: You figure you better start going to the gym a little more since you’ll need to fit into the gorgeous dress you have yet to buy. Your heart breaks a little when your friends suggest getting mozzarella sticks during a study break and you’re on day 1 of your diet. As for the date situation, you are debating between a guy you’ve met a few times at a party who is probably a player, a guy you did a group project with once earlier in the semester who seems relatively normal, getting completely set up or just bringing one of your guy friends.
1 week before: You realize you probably have left it too long to order a dress online without cutting it close if it doesn’t fit. It’s time to hit up King of Prussia mall to try to stay focused only looking for dresses and not stopping by Bath and Body Works to smell every candle. Oh goodness- the date doc was just posted and you now need to get a move on for the date situation. When your friends ask, you pretend everything’s fine but subtly ask if they have anyone they would want to set you up with as you continue to scroll through the names of every boy that you are friends with on Facebook, trying to imagine if they would look good in pictures, be fun to dance with, and let you borrow their jacket at the end of the night if it’s freezing outside.
3 days before: You finally have your dress so you can stop stressing about that, yay! Now it’s also the moment of truth because you’ve decided that as the strong, independent woman you are, you need to A. be bold and just ask someone or B. be brave enough to be completely set up. If you go with A, you have to decide between sending them a text, a Facebook message, or asking them in person when you ‘accidentally’ are standing behind them in the queue for Holy Grounds coffee. As for option B, well you just have to awkwardly friend them on Facebook, trust that your friends wouldn’t steer you wrong, and hope for the best.
1 day before: You finally go over the logistics of the night, debating with your friends over whose room to pregame in based on whose RA is the most chill. You and your friends are already a pretty loud group but now you all have dates so it’s double the noise. You finally get around to doing your nails and testing out a new self-tanner (which you pray won’t turn you orange).
3 hours before: You are running late from a club meeting and realise you still have to shower, do your hair and makeup, and figure out which accessories to pair with your dress. This process may involve Facetiming your friend the entire time even though you only live a 5-minute walk away from each other. You realise you still haven’t eaten dinner but also take into consideration the chicken fingers that will await you at the venue.
1 hour before: Your heels are already hurting your feet as you speed walk across campus to the pregame. The thought that your shoes will look awesome in the pictures keeps you powering through. Your date is meeting you at the pregame and since you either don’t know him that well or have never met him before, you try and come up with a few things you can use as small talk during the bus ride. When you get to your friend’s room, you and your friends instantly become the basic girls that you are, spending a solid 5 minutes telling each other how good you look followed by a billion pictures. You finally get around to talking to your date and you have to decide if you go for an awkward wave, a side hug, or a full on hug (such a difficult decision) when you meet them.
Getting on the bus: You realise that your date is getting along with your friends’ dates just fine and you were worried about nothing (hopefully this is the scenario). At this point you are taking your final photos with your group of friends and board the school busses ready to have an awesome night!