How To Follow Up After A Good First Date

Resist the urge to sext

- Sophia Benoit

A GOOD FIRST DATE IS A LOT LIKE TEQUILA: it makes you do stupid shit. It makes you want to throw any personal boundaries or social norms you intend to follow right out the window and send desperate texts at 4am. But you don’t have to fall into the trap of the post-good-date high. Instead, you can practice the subtle art of the follow-up text.

When it comes to contacting someone after a first date, most people get hung up on when you can reach out. Don’t. The ‘when’ of the follow-up text is the least important part. As long as you don’t text your date seven weeks later, you’re probably doing fine. I once had a guy text me six months after no contact with ‘Hey stranger, how are you doing?’ He only got one thing right: By that point, we were, in fact, strangers.

You can wait too long, but you really can’t text too soon. Arbitrarily waiting to text someone because you don’t want to seem thirsty is weird; text when you have something to say. Guys only really mess up the follow-up text when they text too much, rather than too soon.