She was text messaging me non-stop three days after I met her, then on the first date said, “I’m think I’m falling…”

—Malcolm

Aftermath: After the conclusion of the six-hour date, I told her there would be no second date via message.

For our second date, he told me he was speaking to a crowd and asked, Did I want to come hear him? Turns out it was an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. And I had to help set up. I left and went to a bar about half way through.

—Officedog

Aftermath: He called me the next morning and left a voice mail saying we’d been together long enough and it was time he met my kids. I deleted the message.

I knew it was over when I woke up and saw him sitting at the table in candle-light smoking a cigarette alone and silent, again. Why be there instead of touching me? Why so distant in that world of darkness and the past? He was so handsome with long brown hair, pale skin, lean body…but so filled with blood and shadows. He told me all he wanted was light and love…but I wondered then if it was true. I remember falling asleep staring at the LED red numbers of the time on the alarm clock: 3:16 a.m.

—Destiny

Aftermath: A few weeks later we parted dramatically. It was like raking knives through my heart, but I knew he was never really mine. Whoever or whatever he loved, it was not me.

He sprawled himself out across our bed and ate an entire box of Ho-Hos and didn’t leave anything for me but the wrappers.

—Hungry

Aftermath: Three or so weeks, just long enough to move out. Of course, that was really just the last straw and not the cause of the end. He was a mama’s boy, through and through. Ugh.

We were having a great conversation at dinner, full of laughs, and she suddenly changed the subject and shouted in a voice that commanded the whole restaurant’s attention: “I hate politics. My family told me that Obama is going to raise our taxes — and we’re only working-class!” Then she blurted out, “My Dad only makes about $3 million a year, before taxes!”

—Nate

Aftermath: She was spoiled, rude, and uninformed, but more importantly than that, I was a full-time intern on the Obama campaign and a devoted political science major. I never called again.