First dates have the potential of multiple outcomes. They can be great, horrible or just plain awkward.

Krystian Wente, Weber State University freshman and chemistry major, said one of her first-date experiences with a “friend’s friend” didn’t go very well.

“So I get there, we start talking for a little bit . . . and my date looks at me and asks, ‘How old are you?’ I say 20 and he says, ‘I’m 30.’ From there, awful.”

Wente said she couldn’t stop thinking her date was old enough to have babysat her when she was younger. She also recommended that when someone sets a friend up on a date, the two people should have at least three things in common besides being of similar ages.

“One time this boy — this was in high school — wanted to ask me to prom, but I made sure that my boyfriend asked me to prom,” said Abbigale Williams, English major. “So to kind of make up for it, I took him on a date, and to make it less awkward and less of a date, I brought along my whole family. He ended up wrestling my little sister to the ground, and then when we dropped him off he reaches in to kiss me in front of my whole family.”

Both Williams and Wente advised that someone on a first date not share everything that is wrong with them.

“Always drink water (instead of colored drinks) on dates, because if you spill water on yourself, you can just keep going and it is fine,” said Michael Rodgers, microbiology major. “Also, if you barely know a girl, don’t go on a date with her. It’s just weird at that point. If you are a guy, don’t spill all the bad stuff on the first date. Wait until she is not going to leave you, and then you can tell her whatever you want.”

Rodgers said he once went on a date with a woman he didn’t know very well, and he was obviously not her first choice. They barely talked the whole time.

“I think probably one of the worst was the guy that was the octopus — that’s what me and my friends called him,” said Mikayla Bowers, sophomore. “I wasn’t interested in him at all, but I went on a blind date with him, and he couldn’t get the hint that when he put his arm around my shoulder I would put it back. He just started, like, rubbing my arm. It was like the most awkward thing ever.”

Bowers said being asked on a date can be really flattering, even if the person being asked out really doesn’t want to go on the date.

“I went on a date with a guy in high school — we went to the movies and he was persistent on holding my hand, with not one hand but two,” said Haylee Ross, freshman. “It was super awkward and I kept trying to pull away, but he didn’t get the hint. Then, a few days after the date, he kept calling and texting me. I didn’t respond, so he became very upset and started text-bombing my phone.”