The uncategorized

One of the perpetual ambiguities of life involves the question "Does he like me just as a friend or more?"

I have male friends. I have female friends. Some male friends I treat like female friends. Some male friends I treat like male friends. And some male friends, I treat like friends who may have ulterior motives. With respect to the last category, I know that some guys maintain friendships with girls with the vain hope that the girl will one day like him back. Similarly, girls maintain friendships with guys with the hope he will like her back.

The last category can sometimes include newer acquaintances, guys who are very friendly but you just can't tell if they're genuinely looking to make new friends, female or male, or if they actually want something more. Of course, I don't want to be one of those girls who flatter themselves, who thinks that any guy who looks her way automatically wants to get into her pants. Sometimes when a guy asks, "Is this seat taken?" he genuinely wants to know if the seat is taken. Nothing more.

A while ago, I met a guy at a networking event. We really clicked and chatted a bit that night. I gave him my card. Towards the end of the night, he wanted to give me a ride home in cab, and after he insisted, I relented. We chatted in the cab ride and he dropped me off without incident. The next day, he emailed me some information about the event. I replied back, and after we emailed back and forth several times, I felt like we were sort of e-flirting.

But maybe I was reading too much into his banter. Maybe he's just a friendly guy. Guys can be friendly, right?

At any rate, I stopped emailing him because I began feeling slightly weirded out, for reasons to be disclosed later.

Two months go by and then he emailed me again out of the blue about some event he thought I might be interested in. I replied back, thanking him, and asked how he was doing. He replied in his friendly manner, and then suggested that we should get a drink or dinner some time. I said sure, why not.

Then I began to wonder about him. Like I said, he could just be a friendly guy. Someone looking to network. Someone looking to make new friends.

The thing that weirds me out is ... he's married. Is it weird to have dinner or drinks with a married man? I really can't articulate a solid reason why not if it's just dinner or drinks. It just seems a bit odd. Is his wife cool with him having drinks or dinner with a single girl? At any rate, I plan on having drinks with him next week. I don't think he's going to try anything.

At least I hope not.