Carly
Year: Second
Major: English
Hometown: Burke
U.Va. Involvement: Women’s Ice Hockey Team, WTJX, Adopt-A-Grandparent, Student Council Public Service, Tom Tom Food and Music Intern, PSP.
Ideal Date: Witty but considerate. Must have an appreciation for the written word. Music-lovers are preferred.
Favorite Pick-Up Line: All the other girls here are stars; you’re the Northern Lights.
Jimmy
Year: Third
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Hometown: Stuanton
U.Va. Involvement: WTJX
Ideal Date: Fun, sane, high tolerance of my shenanigans.
Favorite Pick-Up Line: Can I borrow your phone? Because I promised my mother I’d call if I fell in love.
Claire
Year: Second
Major: Undeclared
Hometown: Arlington
U.Va. Involvement: PSP, Center for Global Health, WTJX, Learning in Action, Jefferson Public Citizens.
Favorite Pick-Up Line: Are you from Tennessee? Because you’re the only ten I see.
Cory
Year: Third
Major: Computer Science
Hometown: Williamsburg
U.Va. Involvement: 91.1 WTJU show host and WJTX co-manager
Ideal Date: Willing to try new things, intelligent.
Favorite Pick-Up Line: Will you go out with me? And is the answer to that question the same as this one?
Carly, Jimmy, Claire and Cory met at the Rotunda at 5:30 p.m. and went to Crozet Pizza.
Carly: I applied [to Love Connection] because I had encouragement from personal friends who thought it might be fun. I had just gotten out of a long relationship and thought it would be a fun change of pace.
Claire: I was a little nervous. Carly and I had been trying to go on a double date for a while, but she is always in relationships, which poses a problem. I think that going on blind dates adds to the intrigue of the first meeting. I’m a hopeless romantic.
Jimmy: I’ve been set up on a date before. I’m a big fan of Love Connection, and I expected that my date would be pretty similar to other ones — meet at the Rotunda and go to the Corner for dinner.
Cory: I was walking around the Rotunda for a little bit and I was recognized by Carly and Claire. After that, we were just waiting for Jimmy. When he arrived, he [looked] to the casual viewer pretty much exactly like me: tall, dark-haired and wearing dark rimmed glasses.
Jimmy: I was waiting by one of the side columns when I spied Cory walking, and [I] left to meet the group. I thought Carly and Claire looked like generally attractive and interesting people.
Claire: It was super awkward for about the first 15 minutes. We all worked in the radio station so we tried to focus around that.
Carly: When I first saw the guys, I noticed how handsome they both were. When we discovered we were all WTJX DJs, I knew it would be a good time. I figured that if they ended up ditching us, I could just go on a date with Claire.
Jimmy: It was an awesome day and we were just walking around after we left the Rotunda. We wanted to find somewhere to eat outside.
Carly: After we got cheated out of a table at the Virginian, we decided Elliewood was our next destination. All roads led to Crozet pizza. Jimmy had been there before and raved about it.
Cory: We noticed that Buttz Barbeque had an open sign outside, but it wasn’t lit up, so we speculated about whether it was closed. We asked the server at Crozet, and she didn’t know either. I had the seat facing Buttz, so it was lingering in my mind throughout dinner.
Jimmy: Cory kept talking about Buttz Barbeque, which was weird. We didn’t know anyone who had been there, but he was obsessed.
Cory: We were never told which one was our date so Jimmy and I were trying to communicate under the table to figure it out.
Jimmy: Cory kept kicking me under the table and making intense eye contact. I thought he was telling me to choose which girl I wanted. It seemed like he just wanted both though, and I was like, “OK, dude.” It was pretty confusing, and I got a couple [of] bruises on my shin from it.
Carly: The conversation flowed pretty easily once everyone opened up. We talked about music and concerts for a while and we talked about amusement parks for a very long time. Jimmy and I talked about different jobs and how Charlottesville is better without students.
Claire: We’re all such old souls. Cory and I talked about gap years and different education systems. I knew he was the man of my dreams when I found out that he was an art snob like me.
Cory: WTJX seemed to be the root of our association. We were all from very different areas, which was kind of cool. We talked about high school jobs. Everyone had worked in food service and had fascinating stories and trade secrets about that.
Jimmy: Carly plays hockey and me and Cory are pretty big U.Va. club hockey fans. Luckily no one was a vegetarian, so we enjoyed a chicken barbeque pizza together.
Cory: The end of the date was foretold by the slow removal of pizza until there was one slice left, which I think I claimed. The waitress brought us a vat of water and a check, which we split four ways. I thought that seemed equitable.
Claire: There was a lot of intense eye contact during the date. At one point I think Cory scooted his chair closer to me. That was cool.
Cory: I don’t know if there was flirting. It was good conversation and it went on well enough that there was no time to think of it. If there was any, it was subconscious.
Carly: It felt like Jimmy kept trying to hold my hand under the table.
Jimmy: After dinner, Carly and Claire went to Para to meet up with someone later, and Cory and I headed back to where we live.
Claire: We didn’t even hug at the end. Cory just said, “peace.”
Carly: Jimmy and I almost went in for a handshake, but then realized that we were all going to the same party on Saturday night. Claire and I have both seen Jimmy since the date.
Claire: Jimmy was in a scientific mood when I saw him because all he remarked was, “We went on a date.” You’re right, Jimmy. Good job.
Carly: I think we will probably all hang out again, but I don’t know if it’s necessarily romantic. Jimmy and I have agreed to see each other on a weekly basis in a platonic sense.
Cory: It’s foreseeable that I could clear up a night in the future to see them.
Jimmy: Overall, I would give the date a 7.5. It was a good time with a lot of laughing and hanging out, but it wasn’t romantic. The weather was just awesome. It was a long week, and I just wanted to sit outside and chill out.
Carly: I would give it a 7.62. I had a lovely time with lovely friends, but I think Jimmy will have to prove himself more next time if he wants anything more.
Cory: I thought the date overall was great. The pizza was good, but it kind of complicated the Buttz Barbeque issue with the barbeque sauce. I would lose focus on good conversation trying to figure out if that d*** restaurant was open.
Claire: Cory can’t be quantified, but he can be qualified. I would give him an A . He can do no wrong in my eyes, even if he doesn’t believe in tipping.
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