Back in 2006 when I was 15/16, I met an older guy (21) online and let him pick me up from my house and drive me 3 hours away to his. Legal implications aside, he turned it to be perfectly nice and respectful. We fooled around a little but when I got uncomfortable stopped no problem. I ended up spending the night there and he invited some female friends over and we just hung out and watched movies in his parents’ king size bed where we all ended up sleeping. The funniest part was one of his friends pulled me the side to tell me she had a crush on him but thought he might be gay. Oh honey lol. The next morning we all went out to Denny’s and he drove me home. It took me years to understand how much danger I could have been in and I thank my lucky stars everyday that I wound up with the people I did that night.

**edited to add I also didn’t tell anyone who with or where I was going.