In our digital world, romance has become formulaic. First, pick from the army of copy-pasted dating apps. Next, upload three to five pictures that show your best features — except they can’t be too fun or too serious. Once your profile is complete, sit back and wait. It’s easy enough, but it’s hardly how most people want to find love.
Enter: the meet cute.
The term “meet-cute” originated in the 1938 film “Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife,” when the two title characters meet each other while shopping for pajamas and a simple conversation leads to romantic attraction.
Since then, meet-cutes have been used by writers in romantic films, books and plays to set the stage for their characters’ romantic development. Despite the superficial digital age, I believe the meet-cute is alive and well in our culture. Meeting someone face to face and feeling sparks fly is still a possibility.
While meet-cutes are a natural occurrence, it may help to know where the meet-cute is possible. Here are five places most likely to reward you with a meet cute.
1. The bookstore or library
It is every reader’s dream to find a partner at a bookstore. You both reach for the same book on the shelf, touch hands and fall in love. Farfetched, yes, but there is hope in the trope. Seeing someone holding a book you like or studying a subject you’re interested in allows for an automatic conversation topic. There is no fishing around for a first line when you can simply say, “Oh I love that book! Do you read a lot of…?” and just like that, you’re practically married.
2. A coffee shop or brewery
Everyone loves a good craft drink, especially in Colorado. Drink menus may differ, but coffee shops and breweries draw a similar crowd. Both are spaces in which conversations with strangers are welcome invited. If you’re at a brewery or coffee shop and spot the one, ask for a recommendation on what to order. They’ll love to tell you all about their drink. Perhaps you’ll find love by the time you reach the bottom of your glasses.
3. A concert or music festival
Picture this: you and your friends go to your favorite artist’s concert. Everyone is dressed for the occasion, and the good times are rolling. You lock eyes with a stranger across the crowd. Next time you see them, they are belting out your favorite song while the artist plays on. Take a chance! Approach from across the venue, and don’t let them out of your sight until the lights come up. If you leave together, fate is on your side.
4. At your job
Most college kids work in the service industry. This isn’t a PSA to date your co-worker, but who says you can’t invest a bit of time in that cute regular that comes in every week? They say the way to a person’s heart is through their stomach. Put this theory to the test and give them something special on the house. Write your number on the receipt and await the inevitable text.
5. A good fashioned honky-tonk
Slip on your cowboy boots and mosey on down to the local honky-tonk. Country music tends to create an atmosphere of approachability. Trust the one who leads you out on the dance floor and lean into the music with them. Watch a few YouTube videos and learn how to lead; everyone loves a good dancer. If you dance three times with the same partner, maybe throw them a line beyond dancing.
Photo by Matthew Feeney on Unsplash.