9 Awkward Experiences With Your Crush In The '90s

Braces, boobs, and everything else puberty does to you made things pretty uncomfortable for most of us when we were growing up. We hardly knew how to handle ourselves, and if you grew up in the '90s, there was also another whole level of weirdness going on — so you can imagine all of the awkward things we experienced with our crushes in the '90s. We tried so hard to look cool, all the while terrified that everyone would somehow learn that we had just gotten our periods the night before, because... how could they not know?! (Happily we've made some strides towards destigmatizing periods since then, but we've still got a long ways to go.)

Heck, having a crush as an adult is hard, too. You micro-analyze every single thing they do, and you're certain it all means something — they way they chew their gum on the right side, the quinoa bowl they packed for lunch, the dent in the bumper of their SUV... They must not be into you.

How did we even survive having a crush in the '90s? Some days were pure torture. We didn't know how to talk, act, move, socialize. (Or maybe that was just me.) We were just starting to explore romance, love, and relationships, and it was all foreign territory. You couldn't talk to your parents, because WTF did they know about relationships? So instead, you fought the fight alone. Who could forget these awkward moments?

1. Trying To Get Your Crush's Attention

As '90s kids, we didn't get our crush's attention by posting a selfie on Instagram. We left notes in their lockers and offered to share our Fruit Roll-Ups at lunch. We really lived life on the edge.

2. Kissing With Braces

How did we not know that this was exactly the same as kissing without braces? In the '90s, we loved to make ourselves uncomfortable for no apparent reason... except for those times when your braces got tangled up with their braces and someone had to come extract you from each other.

3. Having Braces... Period

Braces did kind of suck, though, particularly when you struck up a conversation with your crush post-lunch, totally unaware of the remnants of tuna fish sandwich wedged in the wires.

4. If Your Crush Was A Dude, Pretending Not To Notice When His Voice Cracked

Puberty was awesome.

5. Needing Your Parents To Drive You Places

And then calling them from a payphone when you were ready to be picked up.

6. Slow Dancing

Where do you put your hands? Where do you look? What if your breath still smells like that tuna you had stuck in your braces in item number three on this list? Do they like "Kiss From A Rose" as much as you do? So many questions!

7. Even Worst, Fast Dancing

Sometimes you would opt for hiding in the bathroom instead.

8. The Kids At School Gossiping

Children were so cruel. They would make up these completely true lies about how I refused to put out. And they would have made up completely true lies if I had put out, too. Or if I hadn't done either. You just can't win when it comes to societal double standards.

9. Seeing Your Crush With Some Other Person

These days, you'd probably call that person out on social media. As a kid in the '90s, you'd go home, do the ugly cry, and then watch an episode of Dawson's Creek .

Images: ABC; Giphy (10)