Think what a first date is like: at least a four on the awkward scale, no matter what your mutual friend or dating app said about how you would mesh and have a good time.
You suggest coffee at your favorite neighborhood shop at 4 o’clock Sunday afternoon — low-key, low-pressure, perfect for a getting-to-know-you chat that can end in 30 minutes or stretch to 90 if things go well. Then maybe it’s dinner Friday night (Peruvian? Thai? One of their favorites, but no place fancy) — more talk, some flirting, some awkwardness but not too bad. You come home (alone, let’s assume) and think things could have gone much worse — that there’s enough promise to try again, that next time you won’t run right past the conversational passes.