Happy Valentine’s Day, column reader. It’s probably going to be a rough day for all of us. Whether you’re observing Singles Awareness Day (SAD) or finding yourself underwhelmed by a significant other, Feb. 14 rarely lives up to the Hallmark hype.

There’s only one thing to turn toward to survive the day — romantic comedies. Since rom-com characters are so good at making horribly avoidable mistakes and amazing, successful, last-minute decisions, it’s time to take a page out of their books.

Let’s start with the obvious choice: the 2010 celebrity stew known as “Valentine’s Day.” As jaded as it sounds, don’t go into “Valentine’s Day” expecting too much — it’s the No. 1 way to be disappointed by dinnertime. Take publicist Kara, played by Jessica Biel. She’s not a fan of Valentine’s Day and even has an “I Hate Valentine’s Day” party to prove it.

Luckily, by the end of the night, she finds a little bit of love, or at least a kiss, with Jaime Foxx’s character Kelvin. But Kara definitely didn’t walk into work that morning expecting to find a hot date.

The titular characters of “When Harry Met Sally” didn’t expect to find a date for years. Take some advice from them on what not to do. Why don’t you give that “friend” of yours another look? If you’ve had sexual chemistry for years and just put it off as “being really close, but not that kind of close,” you’re probably lying to yourself.

Last week, Fox’s “The Mindy Project” gave the Billy Crystal-Meg Ryan favorite a modern spin, set on Valentine’s Day. Mindy’s newest paramour Jaime and his disturbingly close best friend Lucy realize they love each other on the year’s most romantic day — and in the middle of a double date gone awry.

Learn a lesson from Jaime and Lucy, don’t wait 15 years to be happily in love.

On the other hand, “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” is the perfect depiction of everything not to do today. Try not to be too sensitive or possessive. Don’t promise anyone a really awesome date — like, say, a Knicks game — only to take your significant other to a Celine Dion concert.

In general, try not to do anything that would scare a partner off in 10 days or less.

The characters of “He’s Just Not That Into You” excel in making bad situations worse.

Ginnifer Goodwin’s character Gigi would probably have a rough time making it through today and staying sane. Don’t let this be you.

Gigi takes minor signs from her date as proof that the guy is extremely interested in her. Valentine’s Day has a tendency of making those small and usually insignificant ideas much bigger in anyone’s mind, no matter their gender.

If your crush wants to pursue something with you, he or she should’ve set up plans by now. That 1 a.m. text you get tonight won’t mean they were thinking about you all day and just couldn’t get to a phone.

Take note from Jennifer Aniston’s character Beth, who springs the “Will you ever marry me?” question on her unsuspecting boyfriend. Do not try to define the relationship today. Take some time to think about what you have with this person, and whether making demands will actually be worth it.

Hopefully, these fictional characters’ romantic dos and don’ts will help you dodge a few pitfalls on your real life Valentine’s Day.

Ariana Romero is a junior magazine journalism and political science major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at akromero@syr.edu or followed on Twitter at @ArianaRomero017.

Published on February 14, 2013 at 2:37 am