To celebrate The Hazards of Sex on the Beach release, I have
fourteen amazing romance writers stopping by over the next few weeks to share
their awkward or "hazardous" dating stories.
To kick things off, today I have Rachel Van Dyken, Karina
Halle, and Courtney Cole!
Rachel Van Dyken
Senior year of college I went on a
double date with my best friend and two guys that had graduated two years ahead
of us...When they asked us out they said it was going to be a double
date...DOUBLE DATE meaning you know, we're together the whole time,
right?
Wrong. Her date rented a
corvette, picked her up at 5PM and then told her straight up, "I
rented this car to impress you." Yeah, no lie.
My date picked me up at 5:30
PM and then proceeded not to talk to me the entire time we drove 20
minutes to downtown...At the point where I almost opened my door and just took
my chances rolling across the freeway, he finally said, "I didn't really
plan that much."
Me, "That's fine." As it
was I was kind of thankful b/c it was already all kinds of awkward. I'm
assuming we are meeting my friend and his friend. No. I assumed wrong. He
decided to take me to this restaurant downtown where you can't sit inside so
you have to sit outside, which would have been fine had I brought a coat...It
was a balmy 32 degrees outside.
After eating, on a park bench,
shivering. I asked if we were going to meet our friends. He checked his watch
and said, "Well let's walk around some."
Okay so we walked around, still not
talking much mind you, NOT for lack of trying on my part. I've always prided
myself in being able to keep people in conversation, not this guy. At first I
thought he was nervous then he just seemed upset I was talking so I
stopped.
We met our friends at a coffee shop
downtown TWO HOURS Later (yes two hours) So by now it's
around 7:30 at night.
I see my friend and her look is one
of absolute horror as I sit down next to her at the coffee shop. The guys buy
us coffee and my guy suddenly comes out of his shell FINALLY!
We all sit with our coffee's and the
guys pull out board games and no joke say, "We thought since you're
young you guys might want to play some board games." Since we're
young...Like we're five.
My guy perks up and says, "Hey
is that your guys' left over food?"
Her guy says, "Yeah man dig
in." Apparently our meal was not enough for him so he proceeded to eat
their left overs, over our board game, at least he offered me some, but I
declined.
Three hours later (no I’m not
exaggerating, and if you're keeping track we are now at the five hour mark), my
friend and I are doing everything in our power to tell the guys we're tired. I
yawn, she yawns. I say I have a test I need to study for, she says she really
doesn't do well staying up late...Etc... FINALLY the guys are like yeah we
should call it a night. Thank God.
We drive home separately. Somehow
my guy and I make it back to the dorms first. I get out of the truck, say thank
you and he follows me, yes follows me to my door and I'm thinking oh okay so
he's just walking me to my door....he then proceeds to say, "Aren't you
going to let me in?"
I look at him and am about to say no
when he pushes past me and goes inside my apartment.
My friend soon comes home and her guy
basically pulls the same thing (She tells me later).
They stand, STAND AWKARDLY in our
apartment staring at each other, trying to make small talk with us, and then
enter into their own convo while me and my friend just sit there.
FINALLY they leave. (We are
closing in on the six hour mark people)
When they finally go my friend and I
run upstairs and scream, no joke, scream into our pillows, and then say out
loud, "LONGEST DATE EVER!"
Our windows are open.
We panic then think, no way are they
actually standing outside our apartment still it's been at least 20 minutes.
Our friends call us to come hang out,
so we leave and run smack dab into our dates who were actually standing right
outside our window, stalking apparently.
I get awkward, my friend pretends
she's on her phone and I make an excuse like, "I need to go pick someone
up."
And we leave. And we never
spoke ever again.
7 hour date people....7 hour
date.
About Rachel Van Dyken:
Rachel
Van Dyken is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling
author of regency and contemporary romances. When she's not writing you can
find her drinking coffee at Starbucks and plotting her next book while watching
The Bachelor.She keeps her home in Idaho with her Husband and their snoring Boxer, Sir Winston Churchill. She loves to hear from readers!
Links:
Website: http://rachelvandykenauthor.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RachelVanDyken
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RachVD
TOXIC
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18935386-toxic?ac=1
Rachel
Van Dyken Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4882127.Rachel_Van_Dyken
Karina Halle
It was a Saturday afternoon and
my (thankfully) ex-boyfriend and I were snuggled on the couch watching dumb
movies. I was feeling a little amorous, so I thought I’d amp up the sexy times.
Without saying a word, I unzipped his pants and proceeded to go down on him.
After about a minute, he asked me to stop. Why? Because he needed to pay
attention to the movie.
What movie WAS it?
Snakes on a Plane.
Yeah. Worst thing ever. And what
really trips me up is I know I'm pretty damn good at this particular act. Needless
to say, I'm glad he's my ex.
About Karina Halle:
With her USA Today Bestselling The
Artists Trilogy published by Grand Central Publishing, numerous
foreign publication deals, and self-publishing success with her Experiment
in Terror series, Vancouver-born Karina Halle is a true example of the term
“Hybrid Author.” Though her books showcase her love of all things dark, sexy
and edgy, she’s a closet romantic at heart and strives to give her characters
a HEA…whenever possible.
Karina holds a screenwriting degree
from Vancouver Film School and a Bachelor of Journalism from TRU.
Her travel writing, music reviews/interviews and photography have appeared
in publications such as Consequence of Sound, Mxdwn and GoNomad Travel
Guides. She currently lives on an island on the coast of British Columbia
where she’s preparing for the zombie apocalypse with her fiance and rescue pup.
Karina is represented by Scott Waxman
of the Waxman Leavell Literary Agency
Links:
Courtney Cole
I had just moved to Indiana and I was
staying with my parents while I found the perfect place of my own. During
this time, I was set up with someone. We emailed back and forth, I
thought he was hilarious, so we met for our first date. It went
awesomely, so the following weekend, he picked me up at my parents’ house.
My parents weren't home, and I wasn't
quite ready yet, so he waited for me in the living room alone. Or so I
thought.
When I walked out there, my dad's dog
was chewing on something next to my date's chair. My date could barely
keep a straight face as he told me that the dog seemed to have something of
mine. Puzzled, I bent over to look- only to find that it was my...er...
"female toy." *dies*
I scrambled and said that it was my
mom's, to which my date raised an eyebrow. "Your mom, the preacher's
wife?" *dies again*
I was busted fair and square.
He was good natured about it, and
laughed and said it might be good that he saw it instead of my parents.
(True!!)
Some people might never have
recovered from something like that... But not us. We were married a
couple years later. :)
ABOUT
COURTNEY COLE:
Courtney Cole
is a novelist who would eat mythology for breakfast if she could. She has a
degree in Business, but has since discovered that corporate America is not
nearly as fun to live in as fictional worlds. She loves chocolate and roller
coasters and hates waiting and rude people.
Courtney lives
in quiet suburbia, close to Lake Michigan, with her real-life Prince Charming,
her ornery kids (there is a small chance that they get their orneriness from
their mother) and a small domestic zoo.
Links:
Do you have your own “hazardous" dating story? There is
still time to stop by and enter the giveaway for a chance to win signed copies
of the first three Hazards books and the possibility to have a character named
after you in a future Hazards book! http://www.alyssaroseivy.com/blog/2014/7/28/the-hazards-of