Sentence:  Again among those jubilantly reunited bunkmates , I was shy with Jessie and acted as I had during those early Saturday mornings when we all seemed to be playing for effect , to be detached and unconcerned with the girls who were properly our <WSD>dates</WSD> but about whom , later , in the privacy of our bunks , we would think in terms of the most elaborate romance . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  a participant in a date