When Charlie and Samara met up for their exciting first date, they were both filled with butterflies. When the duo got together though, things took a turn for the worst. Their night of romance turned into a night of disaster... One that they would never forget.
Ready For Love
Samara Hnaien was looking for love in all the wrong places and was about to give up. The Australian beauty scrolled through the dating app Tinder frequently, hoping she would stumble upon her Prince Charming. Not a lot of these men met her standards, but when she came across Charles Harris, she knew she had found someone special...
Chatting Charlie
Charlie Harris was quite the looker. When she swiped right, she was excited to see that he had swiped on her as well. They matched! The duo got to chatting and found that they had quite a lot in common. They were eager to hang out one on one, so after getting to know each other a little more, they agreed to meet up at Harris' apartment. They couldn't wait...
Things Heat Up
After meeting up, the couple enjoyed chatting and relaxing on Charles' couch. "As everything is shut [due to the coronavirus lockdown], the date was just Samara coming over to my house to hang out," Harris recalled in a later interview. "The date was going very well, so we ended up kissing..." This intimate act was going to be the catalyst for a long night ahead...
Something's Not Right
The makeout session was going great, or so Charles thought. Hnaien wasn't having the best time though, in fact, she was in a lot of pain. What was going on? She thought maybe it was just nerves, but these "nerves" got worse with every passing second. She finally had to stop the act and tell Harris something was wrong with her, but what could it be, and why right now?
Panic Sets In
Something was deeply wrong, and Hnaien had an idea as to what it might be. All her life she had severe allergies to a specific food group. She had done her best to avoid it, but this guy was a total stranger! "My whole mouth started tingling mid-kissing basically, which is the first sign to me that I'm having a reaction, and I hadn’t eaten anything..." recalled Hnaien later.
Peanut Problems
She asked her date if he had eaten anything with peanuts in the last few hours. He replied that he had actually eaten and peanut butter sandwich right before she had come over. That was it, she was having an allergic reaction to his kiss! At first, she thought he might have been joking, but once she realized the situation was dire, she had to jump into high gear...
Fixing the Problem
Oh no, this was not good. Hnaien's acute peanut allergy was already starting to set in, and it was their very first date! She told Harris that things were about to take a turn, and their very casual relationship was about to become serious...life-threateningly so. She told him to go get the epi-pen from her purse. He was going to have to be her doctor for a little bit...
Injecting the Thigh
She explained that Harris would have to inject the EpiPen into her thigh, or else it would be a life and death situation. While he did that, she would count to ten out loud. This way, she could be sure that the medication went through her system entirely. Harris was uneasy but knew that there wasn't exactly an alternate option. So, without thinking, he injected the EpiPen...
Calling For Help
Hnaien took control over the situation, as this was something she always knew she'd have to be wary of. She instructed Harris to call an ambulance to come to get her, as she would be going into anaphylactic shock soon and would be unable to communicate well. Harris did as he was instructed and called for help. When it arrived, he jumped in the back with her...
Emergency Room
Once they arrived at the hospital, Hnaien was quickly rushed down to the emergency room. She expected her date would see to it that she was taken care of before leaving, both of them having had the strangest first date story of all time. To her surprise though, once she was stable, the nurses told her that Harris was still sitting in the waiting room, ready to come to say hello...
Up All Night
Harris sat by Hnaien's bedside until 5:30 AM when she was released and he had to get ready for work. It had certainly been a strange night, but the two tinder matches knew that they had had a one in a million experience. "He handled the situation as best as he could’ve," recalled Hnaien after all was said and done, "I was actually really impressed."
Embarrassing Ordeal
Hnaien was embarrassed such an ordeal had happened on their date, but Harris assured her not to worry. "He was really caring and genuine and made me feel at ease and kept reassuring me to not feel embarrassed or anything like that because I was just mortified and felt so bad for him," she said, "It’s a pretty confronting experience stabbing someone with an EpiPen especially when you first meet them."
Date Night Disaster
Though it was certainly not the first date they expected, the lovebirds knew that they would be meeting again. After all, they had already experienced a near-death situation together! They had an unbreakable bond. They felt that the world needed to hear their story, so they turned to where they first met...their iPhones! Together, they posted something rather interesting...
TikTok Team
They two Gen-Z kids turned to their favorite social media app to tell their story, TikTok! The viral one-minute video platform highlighted their journey from each of their perspectives. Harris made one for his account and Hnaien made one for hers. Their accounts went viral overnight, everyone was wondering whatever happened to the two lovebirds. They finally responded...
Not the One
In the end, the duo agreed that while they had shared a wild memory together, they just didn't feel sparks. It was only a first date from a random dating site and going forward, there was not any magic in the air. This was a let down to the many followers each had accumulated, but they were happy to have met and felt lucky to have experienced it with such a kind person. Not everyone has such a nice time though...
Fun and Kind
One woman, named Emily, was excited about her first-ever Tinder date. She was nervous, but upon arriving, found that her match Eric had been as lively and kindhearted as she hoped. He was easy to talk to, fun to be around, and not bad to look at either! "He had really good energy," Emily would later recall, "[He was] funny and complimentary." That is until things took a turn...
Long Lines
Their date was supposed to be spent at a nearby upscale restaurant, but when the couple arrived, they found that their destination had a long line and a longer wait. After some deliberation, the duo opted to just go to a nearby bar instead and grab a few drinks. It seemed like a fun alternative at the time, but this would become the beginning of the end...
My Mai Tai
Once they arrived at the bar, Emily and Eric decided to order a fun drink, like a mai-tai! They clinked their glasses, cheering to each other, and took a sip. As soon as they did, Emily noticed that these were not normal mai-tai drinks. These were pretty strong cocktails, enough to make her tipsy with just one glass. Her partner didn't seem to notice though and downed the entire glass.
Stunned Sober
Emily was stunned. How was he doing this so easily, so casually? She decided to slow down, just in case he couldn't control himself. Her intuition was correct, as he quickly drank an additional two mai-tais, totaling three. "I was tipsy borderline drunk off of one," Emily later said. Even the bar had a two-drink limit on the mai-tai, but he charmed his way into a third. That was a big mistake...
Too Drunk to Function
He was having fun...too much fun. Eric got drunker and drunker until his words were slurred, his eyes were closing, and Emily had lost all interest she had had in him before. The slobbering mess of a man started to get louder and louder until he was practically yelling in the bar. Emily would later say she wished he had just been loud, but then came his declaration of love...
I Love You
As he continued to get drunker into the night, he began to tell Emily just how much he loved her. Ignoring the fact that this was only their first date, and they were only just starting to get to know each other, Eric professed his true feelings. "[He was] joking at first" Emily recalled, "but [he was] getting increasingly serious." She decided it was time to make her exit...
Gather to Go
Emily was annoyed that her date had ended up so poorly, but didn't want him to be tempted to drink and drive. She led him out of the bar after paying for their drinks and called him a rideshare car back to his apartment, and a separate one back to her own. Eric, drunkenly pleased with the night and with his new love, got down on one knee in front of the bar...
Wedding Bells
Eric got on the dirt road and took Emily's hands in his. "Emily" he slurred, "Will you marry me?" Onlookers watched for her reaction, unsure why her beloved would be down on the ground while so visibly intoxicated. Emily was absolutely stunned. This had all happened within hours of meeting each other for the first time! She laughed it off, but he persisted...
Runaway Groom
Emily awkwardly chuckled at his proposal, saying "Maybe we take it slow, we just met each other!" Eric asked a few more times, but she turned him down again and again. That's when Eric began to get irate. He cursed her out and called her names, getting back off the ground. He stood, scoffed at her, and took off running into the night...
Left Alone
Eric ran off, leaving Emily all alone on the streetcorner. She angrily canceled his ride and waited for hers, furiously texting all of her closest friends about the wildest date she'd ever been on. When her ride finally came, she rode back to her apartment alone, showing up around midnight. Sure enough, as soon as her key hit the lock, she received a text from Eric...
"Come Over"
As she read the text, Emily couldn't help but roll her eyes. She had received several texts from Eric asking her to come over, asking if she was still awake, and saying that he missed her. It had only been a half-hour since their painfully awkward drunken date! Emily never responded, but the texts came for weeks until they finally stopped. She doesn't regret that decision...
Tinder Troubles
Though unsettling, dates like Emily and Eric's aren't too uncommon for online daters. It is estimated that 50 million people use the dating application Tinder in over 190 countries. Of these 50 million, about 10 million use it every single day. Additionally, about 6 million people pay for the service to show them better matches as well as make them more likable to others...
Love Online
Finding love online isn't uncommon either. About 40% of adults in America use online dating to find a romantic partner. On average, men are in the majority of users at 52.4% while female users are close behind at 47.6%. On average, a woman is most pursued online at age 26, while a man is most pursued online at age 48. It doesn't stop there...
How to Find Love
According to a study conducted by Stanford University in 2019, most couples these days are meeting online. The researchers say that online dating has almost entirely erased couples who meet through mutual friends. It seems if you want to couple up anytime in the near future, doing so online is probably the best way to go...
Love In the Modern Age
Whether you're looking for love online or out in the real world, it can be a tricky road to travel. Today, about 30% of couples are united through an online dating application, but 70% have found their partner through friends, work, school, or another source. As long as it doesn't land in a hospital room or being kicked out of a bar, it's sure to be an interesting experience...