Student Unsure if Last Night Was a Hookup, a Hangout, or a Four-Credit Sociology Experiment

It began, like most college stories, with a shared laugh, vague eye contact, and an accidental brush of knees on a dorm futon.

From there, things escalated — into a long discussion about attachment theory, climate grief, and how Spotify algorithms know your soul better than your ex ever did.

They didn’t hook up.
But they also didn’t not.

“We talked about our parents’ divorces for an hour,” she says. “Then he complimented my sock choice and stared at the ceiling for five minutes. I don’t know what that means, but I think we bonded?”

In a post-clarity era, the lines between hookup, hangout, and identity workshop have fully collapsed.
Everything is flirting.
Nothing is commitment.

Keanu reflects:
“Modern college intimacy is defined by unspoken terms, soft boundaries, and eye contact that lasts just long enough to ruin you.”

The next day, she debated texting him but settled for reposting something vulnerable-adjacent to her Instagram story. He viewed it. No reply.
She liked his BeReal later that evening.

The campus culture is riddled with this vibe: friends who touch too much, exes who never were, people who ghost and then reappear as social justice memes.

One student summarized it best:
“It’s not that I’m afraid to catch feelings — it’s that I don’t know if what I caught even counts as a feeling.”

The university’s wellness center offers a workshop called “Defining It Without Defining It: Navigating Intimacy in Ambiguous Times.” It filled up in nine minutes.

When asked if she’d see him again, she shrugged:
“Maybe. He mentioned we should ‘coexist more.’ I think that’s modern romance.”