If you’ve ever gone on a date only to feel more uncertain than ever, you’ve experienced ‘the drop’

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If you’ve ever gone on a date only to feel more uncertain than ever, you’ve experienced ‘the drop’

What do you think it meant though?

If you've fallen for someone, you'll be familiar with the panic around the first few real dates™. You've made it past only seeing each other in groups, past the first messy hookup, and now they want to take you out.

You're finally going to get a better handle on what's really going on, right?

Maybe you're getting sushi, or perhaps he's more of an falafel guy, but either way, your friends are ecstatic because they'll finally get a break from pouring over his texts for hints: "What do you think he meant by hey 'period'" or "Do you think him saying 'Night' instead of 'Night!' is a bad thing?"

Everything is perfect. He compliments the brand-new dress you bought for the occasion, and you tell him it's just some old thing you threw on. Conversation flows easily, and by the end of the meal you're sure of where you stand. You can't believe you ever doubted that he liked you.

So why then, after you kiss goodnight and toss your headphones in to head home, does your stomach begin to knot as you second guess every single thing he said to you in the past two hours?

Does his sister actually live in New Jersey? Did he actually study finance in college? When he said he "liked me" did he mean he "like-liked" me, or did he mean something else?

That's the drop: That feeling you get immediately after a date, where you feel worse about the situation than you did before, even though everything went perfectly well.

He didn't say anything you didn't expect him to say — in fact, he was sweeter than you realized. He remembered everything you told him the last time you two hung out, and he even reassured you of his interest.

But for some reason, you're even more confused about where you two stand, romantically, than ever.

You finally get home from the date, and your roommates are eager to pour over details: Where did you go? Who paid? Do you finally know what the heck you two are?

"I'm not sure," you reply. "Wait! He just texted."

"What do you think he means by 'Had a really great time tonight?" you say as you hand your phone over.

@carolinephinney