On dates, she always offers to pay for dinner. When out with guys, she goes against the traditional female role and picks up the tab herself. But when she’s with women, she’s fills in as the gent.

In the field of love, president of EC’s Gay-Straight Alliance, Melissa Mercado, 20, undecided major, subs for both teams as a bisexual.

She has dated most of the different types of the players on the dating field: lesbians, straight guys and even other bisexuals.

But Mercado doesn’t spout out her sexual orientation.

“I usually don’t call myself bisexual,” Mercado said. “I just tell people that I’m a very open person, just for the simple fact that (bisexuality) has a very negative connotation.”

There are people who give bisexuality a bad name by pretending to play both fields to grab attention, Mercado said.

To some, bisexuality only compares as far as hackey-sack and pogs: a simple trend to look cool.

Most of the “fronters” are women who will, ironically, get with a women in order to hook a guy with a lesbian lure. These women will do it for the attention of males, because guys think it’s really hot when two women are together, Mercado said.

“It’s really hard to find those relationships that are true relationships,” Mercado said.

But there are true bisexuals, and they come in many flavors.

“I have friends who are butchy, butchy bisexuals,” Mercado said. “And I have friends that are femme bisexuals.”

Bisexuals can’t be narrowed down to a certain type of person, Mercado said.

But among the differences, there’s a least one trend in bisexuality.

“You really just have to be someone who’s open-minded,” Mercado said.

Woody Allen said that bisexuality “immediately doubles your chances for a date on Saturday night.”

While this may or may not be true, bisexuals at least increase their options when in a bar.

And from dating either side of the aisle, they can survey both sexes and get a fair impression of what dating life has to offer.

Mercado notes women often become closer quicker, while men will move quicker toward removing her pants instead.

“Relationships with guys usually goes a little slower toward the emotional, and faster toward the sexual,” Mercado said.

“With women, it’s usually faster toward the emotional, and slower toward the sexual,” she said.

The touchy-feely stuff is one of the advantages of dating women.

“Girls are so much more sensual when you’re with them,” Mercado said. “They’re easier to talk to; they understand what you’re going through.”

“They’re loving and caring, and when you need someone there, they’re totally there,” Mercado said.

But the downside of a girl-girl relationship is the excess emotional gunpowder.

“Women will tend to be a little bit more finicky about little things, a little bit more emotional,” Mercado said. “And having two women together just sometimes creates a big explosion.”

Mercado said some women can be too needy, complete with phrases like: “Where were you?”, “What are you doing?” “How come you didn’t call me?” “I called you, like, four times today!” and “What’s wrong?”

Relationships with guys are more chill and are involved with a lot less drama, Mercado said.

“Guys, they’re just, like, ‘What’s up? What’s going on? Something wrong? No? All right, cool.’ And they’re fine with that,” Mercado said.

But guys can be so chill, it can freeze their emotional judgment.

“Guys kind of have this emotional block, and they don’t really know what to do sometimes,” Mercado said.

Men can also be such cads with their “what’s your sign?” lines.

“Especially before you meet them, (men) just tend to be completely crude and they’ll hit on you in the most obscene ways,” Mercado said.

However, in the crazy world of duel dating, the gender of her potential partner is not the point of bisexuality.

“It’s not about being with a guy, or being with a girl,” Mercado said. “It’s about who the person is and why I like them.”