They started with butterflies, movie-worthy smiles, and that “maybe this one’s different” feeling. But by dessert, jump scares, plot twists, and vanishing acts stole the show. Here are 12 dates that crashed harder than a rom-com hero’s ego.

I suddenly got a message on Facebook from my high school crush. I’ll admit I was excited. I thought maybe it was fate giving me another chance to see what could’ve been. He suggested we meet for coffee. I said yes.
The conversation was nice, at first. Then, after an hour, he suddenly grabbed my hand and said, “I’ll be straight with you. I know you’ve been waiting for this since senior year.” He wasn’t joking. He genuinely thought my entire adult life had revolved around him.I stood up, told him, “I think you’re still living in the past. I’m not,” and walked out.I work at a hospital and I answered a call on the ward from a patient’s son. He asked how his mum was going, then asked if I could call him back in a few minutes because he was losing reception.I called him back and a woman answered. I said, “Hello, this is (my name) from the Hospital, is XXXX there?”

She passed the phone over to the same man I spoke to a few minutes earlier and gave him a quick rundown, and he said thank you and hung up.Didn’t think anything of it until the next day when I saw the patient’s son on the ward. He thanked me for calling him back because he was apparently on the worst date ever where the woman wouldn’t stop talking about her ex-boyfriends, all of their flaws, and how much she hates men.

He apparently called from the bathroom, went back and left the phone on the table, then went to the bar. I called, the bad date answered, and he told her his mum had been in a car accident, and he had to go ASAP. His mum was there for a routine tonsillectomy. Bravo sir.