Have you ever been on a first date when it hits you: I could be home, wearing sweats, eating Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey out of the container and watching Netflix? Marnie and Ellie know that feeling.

Marnie met Jack at a Parents Without Partners dance that she'd been pressured into attending. The reason she had to be pressured was because she wasn't a parent, but a friend insisted it would be OK for her to go.

Jack reminded Marnie of her ex-husband — never a good thing (strike one). But he insisted on dancing with her and then meeting her for coffee at Denny's after the dance.

Marnie says: "I didn't really want to do either, but I was 23 and still felt I had to be nice to everyone, all the time. I went to the Denny's across the street from the dance location. And waited, and waited. Finally, after 30 minutes or so, I gave up and left.

"I was irritated, but at the same time, I was relieved, because he wanted to meet me at Denny's so he could get my phone number and this way I was off the hook with him."

Well, it turns out Jack was more enterprising than Marnie had given him credit for. He got her number from a friend of hers. The next morning, he called.

She says: "He was very apologetic. He'd gone to a Denny's a few blocks away rather than the logical one across the street. He begged for a chance to make it up to me."

Jack invited Marnie to a company dinner the next weekend. "He showed up and presented me with a $2 box of candy from the drugstore, and then took me to a huge, informal gathering. He kept acting like we were together. We'd be talking to people and he'd start rubbing my back, acting way too familiar for a first date." — (strike 2) — "I hated that, so I'd move away.

"Finally, we got home and he wanted to make a second date. He asked, 'How good a cook are you?' His idea of a second date was to bring steaks over so I could cook for him." (And ... he's out.)

"I figure the whole first date cost him the $2 box of candy, because his company paid for the rest of it. He'd talked about being on a tight budget because of his divorce and having custody of his kids, but I didn't see that as my problem. I'd just come out of a marriage to a guy with two kids, and I wasn't eager to get back into anything like that, ever again. Needless to say, there was no second date."

Ellie was on a first date with Elton to a road rally sponsored by his fraternity. There were four of them in Elton's car trying really hard to win, but they came in second.

"Three of us thought second place was pretty good, but Elton sulked the rest of the evening, saying, 'I'm just one of those guys, I've gotta be the winner.' He was too stupid to see that being on a date with me was the real prize."

When was the minute you knew there'd be no second date? Send your tale, along with your questions, problems and rants to [email protected]. And check out my e-books, "Dear Cheryl: Advice from Tales from the Front" and "I'll Call You. Not."

Photo credit: at Pixabay