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Lockdown has pushed us all toward innovation, including finding new ways to date. You can still meet people online but sheltering in place is keeping potential couples from taking it to the next level. What does that even look like these days? Is it a FaceTime call? A Zoom meeting? What’s the dating hierarchy? With so many unanswered questions, we turned to local singles for insight on what love in the time of ’rona is really like. Here, 10 Miami ladies share their dating experiences during the lockdown—from cringe-worthy to romantic to downright weird.
The socially distant croqueta date
After texting and calling, a guy and I decided to meet up for a socially distant date at Islas Canarias. We each got croquetas and then sat six-feet apart from each other outside while we ate them. Eileen [whose family owns the restaurant] noticed us and took our photo with her security cameras! Sadly, it didn’t work out.
The "fishing" date
I met a guy on Instagram—he slid into my DMs—and we texted and FaceTimed for a few days. One day, I decided to bake him cookies and drive over to his house to drop them off. Very serious about keeping his distance, he grabs a fishing rod and fishes the cookies from out of my car! He posted the whole thing on Instagram and then proceeded to ghost me. He came clean later and said I intimated him to he stopped answering my messages. Whatever.
The stage-five clinger date
I matched with a guy on Bumble and we chatted for about two hours before calling it a night. He asked what my plans were the next day, and I said I had some work stuff until 3:30ish to which he replied: “cool, text me tomorrow.” The next day, I hadn’t texted him by 4:15pm and he proceeded to text and call me three times within the next hour wondering why I hadn’t texted him. He ended his last message to me with a passive-aggressive note, “guess we aren’t talking anymore.” Nope, I guess we aren’t.
The Netflix pizza party date
I’ve had two different guys send me pizza and wine for dinner and a movie. We ate the same things and watched scary movies together on Netflix Party, and it was so fun. I’ve been busy during quarantine!
The *very* old flame
Guys on dating apps are so bored that they are answering messages from three years ago. I got a message from someone I matched with and messaged in 2017, who decided to finally write back. And then when I called him out on it, he was like, “let’s not dwell on the past.” Um, okay. Bye.
The neighborhood porch date
Ah, this one’s my favorite. I think after being single for a year, I’m finally ready to just stop having fun and actually date for real—and he gives me all the good vibes. This wasn’t our first date (he sent me dinner another night). He lives in my neighborhood so we met up on his porch, kept our distance and split a pizza from Pummarola. He kept my wine glass refilled the whole time. Porch date can definitely move on to the next round.
The Zoom date that never happened
This one guy dropped off dinner (and two bottles of wine!) with the intention of then going back home and having a Zoom date. It all sounded nice and romantic until we both got stuck having to do other Zoom calls but for work. He ended up having a cold steak after his meeting, and I just ate my free meal without having to small talk. He tried sending me food again another time—again!—we got tied up with work! I guess even in quarantine I’m still too busy to date even if it’s just on video.
The date that turned into a breakup
I actually used quarantine to break up with someone who I wasn’t in a full-blown relationship with. I coined it a ‘freakup,’—we are not sheltering in place together!
The therapy date
I matched with a guy on Bumble and we chatted for a few days before deciding to have a virtual date. He let me pick a restaurant, so I picked one of my favorites that was offering takeout, and he contactless-delivered my dinner to me before we got on Zoom. During our chats he didn’t divulge much about himself, so I pushed a bit during the Zoom and he admitted to having a tough past and not being a fan of himself. It quickly spiraled into what felt like a therapy session. Needless to say, I may have slowly ghosted him after.
The too-much-too-soon date
I started talking to a guy on Hinge and we exchanged numbers. He texted me and asked what I was up, so I mentioned that I was making dinner and getting ready to Zoom with my girlfriends. I put my phone down and jumped on my Zoom call only to come back to 15 text messages: the first one being of his *thing* in a cage and then casually moving on to what he was watching on Netflix. Guys appear to be extra needy these days.
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