Summer loving can be a blast - but what about when things are moving too fast for someone’s liking? Some singles will hit it and quit it when the summer heat is on, but others will want to follow the spark - the serious business is finding out if you are on the same page.
55 percent of single millennials in the US admit that they have had a ‘summer fling’, new research reveals, but happily around 73 percent of those go the way of Grease’s Sandy and Danny - blossoming into a real relationship.
Yet, according to the poll of 2,000 single millennials across the country conducted by Yelp Eat24, more than 58 percent of summer flingers have found themselves in an argument after the other person thought things were more serious than they were, with 38 percent saying the bickering began when the fling attempted to put a label on the relationship.
Another one in five were forced into a confrontation when their summer fling got a bit too carried away when making plans far in advance.
On the other side of things, 52 percent of young singles admit that THEY were the ones blindsided when they discovered their fling was just that and nothing more.
A quarter only learned the news that their fling wasn’t a ‘thing’ when the news when their crush introduced them as their ‘friend.’
An unlucky 14 percent found out when they caught their fling on a date with someone else.
But this is very different between men and women. Women are almost twice as likely as men to have received the bad news after asking their partner point blank where the relationship was going, while men are three times as likely as women to have found out when they caught their partner still using a dating app.
Like with any long-term love, there are steps involved when it comes to ramping things up. For those whose summer fling turned into the real thing, it took an average of five and a half weeks before making things exclusive, and six and a half before posting anything together on social media (although one in ten claims that they would never dare post anything about their relationship on Facebook).
Have you been heading out to dinner, hand-in-hand? Well, that’s a sure-fire way to know you have hit the next level, according to single millennials. The top sign that a fling is turning into something more is that the pair of you start going on more ‘real’ dates - as opposed to just Netflix and chilling - followed by increasingly public displays of affection.
Things are a little bit different for one-night stands, however. While most believe it’s alright to eat with a one-night stand, more than a third think that this can only be takeout/delivery - and women are more likely than men to say that eating with a one-night fling is an absolute no-no.
Pizza is considered the official food of the one-night stand - as three quarters of Americans name it as the perfect food for the situation - with tacos coming in a distant second.
Pizza is also the food that millennial singles consider to be the most attractive personal love of potential flings - with 46 percent saying that someone’s taste in cuisine can play a part in how appealing they are.
Ice cream, pasta and sushi also ranked highly as being attractive culinary interests.
"When it's heating up outside and between you and your date, turning on the oven is the last thing on anyone's mind," says Hannah Cheesman, a spokesperson for Yelp Eat24. "America's young singles seem to be saying: If we're going to eat, let's make it fast and get back to business."
But whatever your favorites might be, always take care when chowing down in front of a love interest. One in five people have turned down a date purely because of the other person’s eating habits, with chewing loudly or with their mouth open being the biggest culprits, followed by gorging on too much junk food.
"Pizza can be indulgent and comforting, which is kind of a metaphor for the best type of summer fling. Plus, curry or a salad are very hard to eat gracefully in bed," added Cheesman.
TOP 5 ACTIVITIES TO DO WITH A SUMMER FLING
- Watch Netflix
- Eat out or get delivery
- See a movie
- Other activity
- Drinks at a bar
BEST FOODS TO EAT WITH A ONE-NIGHT STAND
- Pizza
- Tacos
- Ice cream
- Wings
- Sushi
- Pasta
- Curly fries
- Burritos
- Pie
- Dim sum
***This random double-opt-in survey was conducted by OnePoll, a market research company and corporate member of ESOMAR and adheres to the MRS code of conduct. For more information about One Poll’s research in the media, navigate to their portfolio here: http://www.onepoll.com/in-the-media/. This survey of 2000 US single millenials was conducted between July 14, 2017, and July 27, 2017, by Market Researchers OnePoll and commissioned by Yelp Eat24.
ENDS