CRUSHES

The summer sun will be all out of shine in just a few short weeks, so you might be starting to wish your sweetie would stick around for the school year. Well, girl, it's time to stop wishing and make it happen. You and your beachside beau hit it off for a reason. If you’re still going strong this far into the season, then you’ve got every reason to give the relationship a shot. Follow these steps to take your summer romance from fling to *official.* 

1. Decide what you want.

Before you can even begin to bring your beau into this, you’ll need to figure out exactly what it is that you want from them. Are you 100 percent serious about being this person’s GF? Would you rather downgrade to “just friends” for the sakes of school and your social life? We’re pretty sure you’re ready to ship your sweetie, but it never hurts to triple-check! 

2. Be straightforward with your feelings.

Now’s the time to get your babe involved. The clock’s ticking, so don’t waste a single moment dancing around the issue. Tell them the truth: you’re head-over-heels in summer love and you hope they’re just as interested in staying together as you are. Getting to the point will show your sweetie that you’re serious about taking things further. 

3. Set ground rules.

Your babe wants to make it work. Congrats! Soak up that sweet summer sunset, but remember to work with your sweetie to establish a set of ground rules. You’ll def want to cover things like texting routines, whether or not you want to stick to a Skype schedule (if you’re crushing on a long-distance camp cutie), how you’re going to handle your relationships statuses on social media and what you’ll both do to balance school work with quality bonding time. 

4. Plan dates.

It’ll be a lot harder to see your beau as often once you have to factor essays and extracurricular activities into the equation. Remember how important it was to be straightforward at the start? The same idea applies here. Instead of tossing a few half-plans back and forth until they disappear, you and your sweetie should decide on exact times and places. Setting dates in stone will make you much more likely to follow through with them.

5. *Really* get to know each other.

Finally, there’s a lot that a single summer can teach you. However, there are still so many things left to learn about your babe—and we’ll bet there’s at least a thing or two they don’t know about you. Continuing to be curious about one another is a great way to grow your relationship because you’ll add new layers to what you’ve already built. Ask questions, answer honestly and never lose interest in knowing more. 

Have you ever had a summer sweetie? Share your story below!

by Megan Sawey | 8/12/2016