If you don't have a boyfriend, girlfriend, reliable friend or anything of that sort, you have probably faced this problem: who to take to your next function. As the perpetual single friend, I have gotten set up on many occasions with random dates. Whether it is a friend of a friend, one of my girlfriend's boyfriend's fraternity brothers, a cute guy in one of my classes, a random person I see on the street, they all start out the same: weird. There's no way around it.

I don't consider myself a horribly awkward person, but that doesn't change the fact that meeting a guy, forcing small talk and (usually) dancing with him, all in the same night, is strange. I am not saying I have had awful experiences with random dates, because that could not be farther from the truth. I have had lots of dates that have been a lot of fun. But still, taking a random to your date party can only go one of two ways -- really great or really weird. 

Before you even reach out to this stranger that your friend swears, "you'll just love," you commence stalking via social media. First, Facebook. You check out every single one of their profile pictures, because you just have to know if they are cute or not. Next, Twitter. What kind of sense of humor do they have? Are they sarcastic? Knowledgeable about current topics? Ebola? Missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370? These are all crucial criteria. Soon, you will have to actually reach out and invite him or her to the event. You will probably text, because this is the easiest, most indirect way to directly ask. Then you hold your breath for however long it takes them to text back. When they reply with a yes, hopefully, you can hash out the details -- what to wear, when to meet up, etc. This boring, but necessary conversation will almost always end with a generic, "Looking forward to it!" text from one of you. 

Then, the day of the date party arrives. Nervous laughs are exchanged, small talk is forced and, hopefully, you move past it and have a great night. The moral of the story is that the date will be awkward no matter what. Don't make it worse than it needs to be and you may end up having the best time,ever.