Katie Bolin started seeing her boyfriend in December of 2013. But when February rolled around, he didn't want to make plans for the 14th.
"I've never been that big on Valentine's Day, so I had plans with friends," Bolin said. "But then on Valentine's Day, he was texting me saying he felt bad" they wouldn't be together.
The two had met through mutual friends and began keeping in touch on Twitter, but they weren't dating. For months, they were just "hanging out."
"Hanging out is like the pre 'we're dating,' " Bolin said. "Putting the word 'date' on it is stressful — a hang-out is so much less pressure."
For many millennials, traditional dating (drinks, dinner and a movie) is nonexistent.
In its place, young people hang out or say they are "just talking." So when store windows fill with hearts and chocolates and red roses, young couples feel pressure to define their ambiguous relationships.
That's not easy, in part because traditional dating has changed dramatically — and so has the way young people talk about relationships.
Twenty-year-old Kassidy McMann said she's gone out with a few guys, but it wasn't as serious as dating. "We just called it hanging out," she said.