The Lawrence Love Column

Zach Patrick-Riley

It’s a Friday night. You’ve had a few beverages. One thing leads to another.and you end up randomly kissing someone. It’s nothing really past kissing but certainly a few minutes of enjoyable lip-to-lip action. You can’t for the life of you remember where you know him/her from — class? Downer? — But your mind and vision are clouded. Nonetheless, at some point your lips part, due to an outside distraction, such as your friend nagging you to go who-knows-where. Hesitant, you say goodbye to the other person and go along on your merry way.meander around campus drunkenly some more.then end up going back to your room, eating some delicious Muncheez pizza, and go to bed without too much thought of the details of the night.You wake up in the morning with two aftertastes: the extremely salty one Muncheez left and the actually delicious sugary one from that sweet babe you kissed. You have a glass of water and start to think to yourself: Hmmm, who was that awesome gal/guy I kissed last night? Just as you’re logging onto Facebook, your friends press you to do the typical hung-over walk to Downer to get Saturday brunch, where soon the magic of Downer comes into play.
As you are getting some ever-so-healthy Lucky Charms, you look to your right and sight your new friend by the waffle maker. Your heart starts to pound and you don’t really know why. Is it because you like this person.? You think you might, but then — do they like you?

Suddenly, reality snaps back with a “Hey, Jack.” She knows your name? Wait, what’s her name. Katie? Jamie? You know it ends with -ie. You decide to say “Hey, there,” nonchalantly. The two of you engage in some friendly casual banter, not discussing the details of the previous night, the question of what to do next circling in your mind. Can the random kissing you had the previous night turn into more? And if so, how should one go about it?
Thankfully enough the answer is a big YES — it can turn into something more. Random hook-ups are the start to many relationships, proof that they can be instrumental when it comes to romance. Though you may have been under the influence, by no means does that mean that it wasn’t still special or meaningful. Sure, there are times when you randomly kiss someone and never see that person again. Still, more often than not at this small but wonderful school, you will run into that individual sooner or later. Like, the next morning in Downer.

If you’re Jack and wondering what your next move should be with Katie (yeah, that’s her name), first try to look at her external behavior and body language. Does it say, “Wow — I kissed you? Gross.” Or does it say, “Wow — we did kiss last night? Nice.” If her signals point to the latter, make an effort to flirt or mention how it’s such a beautiful day for a walk. Hopefully she’ll get the hint and agree.

Keep in mind that if you randomly kiss someone, there is potential for more. I can’t give you a step-by-step approach for this, but I can tell you that you should have some confidence and try pursuing that potential. My guess is that if you play your cards right, you can have a walk to remember, jokes about a first kiss over a bowl of Lucky Charms, and best of all, many more drunken hookups; with you, Katie, and the grand romance of a Muncheez Pizza.