When Friends Date Just Because

By Meher Ahmad | July 24, 2013 | 10:20pm

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Remember when Lauren Conrad made a pact with some Laguna Beach bro to be her senior prom date in case neither of them had a GF/BF by then? And then she went with said bro instead of Stephen because Stephen was with Kristen? Oh, you haven’t seen Laguna Beach upwards of five times in its entirety and reference it at least thrice a week like me? Weird.

What happened between LC and her senior prom date is a small-scale version what two single and relationship-confused New York City designers that were just friends have embarked on as an “experiment.” Both have struggled to find true lurv in the NYC dating scene (tip: true love in NYC is actually just making out with a jumbo slice every night), both have pinpointed their problems with dating in the past. SHE, Jessica Walsh, is a “hopeless romantic.” HE, Timothy Goodman, is afraid of commitment. Together, they will try to solve whatever they’ve been doing wrong this whole time.

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For 40 days, Walsh and Goodman have pledged to embark on a weird relationship that is built on the fact that the two are friends and the two are single. There are only six rules to the experiment: see each other every day, go on three dates a week, complete a daily questionnaire, visit a couples therapist once a week, go on a weekend trip together, and no kissing/dating/fucking anyone else. I can’t believe “get in a blowout fight in the corner bodega over the type of sandwich you’re splitting” isn’t on the list but whatev, I’ll let it slide. Also, note that being physically intimate is not a rule.

Sounds. Terrible. And apparently it is. Walsh and Goodman’s most recent daily questionnaires have been bleak. It seems like THEY DON’T ACTUALLY LIKE EACH OTHER THAT WAY. Which would explain why they’ve been friends for years without making a move on the other in the first place. But apparently the dating scene in NYC is so bleak, despite there being a gajllion horny young people writhing around in Top Shop outfits all over the five boroughs, that two friends have to look each other, shrug, and go “Uhh, why not, I guess?” and go on 40 awkward dates. It’s like it’s having sex in a bunker at the end of the world only instead of being worried about furthering the human race, you’re worried about having someone to cuddle up to while watching Netflix on a Tuesday. My theory? Their friends wanted to make a trendy website, replete with sooo many cool fonts, and they obliged by closed-mouth kissing each other for over month. The things you’ll do for friendship’s sake.

[40 Days of Dating]