Page 4 of Electric Blue Love
“It said not to hang out with a man you’re interested in alone unless it’s a scheduled date. No texting or phone calls except to make plans until after the third official date. No sexting, obviously.”
“Obviously?”
“Well yeah, the article suggests it makes it easy for a guy to get what he wants without having to work for it.”
“True, but he’s probably not putting you in the friend zone if he’s staring at your boobs on his phone.”
“He’s probably not thinking of me as more than a hook up either.”
“Depends on the rack.” I grinned. “But fair enough. No sexting. Any others?”
She hesitated before answering, looking away. “Date men in his circle of friends.”
“Who wrote this trash?” I asked, grabbing the magazine and flipping to the article finding the rules she’d just mentioned.Dirty little trick: date his friends. When he sees that other men want you, he’ll stop seeing you as a friend.
“You want to know how to get out of the friend zone or not be a random hook up? Stop reading articles like this. This woman probably lives alone with fifty hamsters.”
“Hamsters?”
“Yeah, I know people always say cats, but I like cats.”
Smiling, she seemed to relax a bit. “You seem pretty sure. What are your credentials and why should I listen to you?”
“How old are you?”
“Twenty-two.”
“College?”
She nodded.
“I’m thirty-four and I’m not sure that advice would even work on me. Look, guys your age are preoccupied with parties and fun. You’re asking him to work for it when there’s practically a buffet line of other, delectable options.”
She scoffed.
“Look, I’m certainly no expert on relationships, but I know that,” I handed the magazine back to her, “is crap.”
“Okay, I give. What do you think a girl that finds herself in this situation should do?”
“Well without knowing the situation exactly, I’d say for starters this girl should find excuses to hang around the guy as much as possible. If you aren’t around, he’ll find someone else. And I don’t mean hang out together playing Xbox in sweat pants, although, something tells me you could pull that off,” I said, letting my eyes graze over her again. “You want to dress to get his attention – dresses or skirts, high heels, hair down, just a touch of makeup. And, absolutely do not sleep with his friends. It might make him jealous, but it also makes you just another easy lay.”
“That’s it?”
The unbelieving look on her face caused a laugh to rumble in my chest. “It’s not a perfect list, there are always other considerations like personal preferences and chemistry, but we’re simple creatures.”
“A woman being in the same room as you, dressed nice, who hasn’t slept with your friends. That’s all it takes to get your attention?”
“My attention? Nah, but I’m not your target audience. Contrary to popular belief, we men do mature as we age.”
“What does it take for a woman to get your attention?”
Surprised by the question, I thought for a moment not coming up with any good answers. “I’ll keep you posted when I figure it out. So, tell me about the guy.”
She hesitated for just a moment. “His name is Todd. We run in the same circles, have mutual friends, usually end up at the same parties. We’ve become friends, I guess, over the years.”
“You guess?”
“I mean not friends exactly. We don’t braid each other’s hair and watch Gossip Girl, but we have some classes together and we’ve gotten to know each other over the years. We flirt, we always hang out at parties – it’s like we’ve been dancing around each other for years.”
