Adding insult to injury to insult to injury

I'd like to delve into all the details of Saturday night's party, but I won't. Suffice it to say that, in direct violation of the Naysayer's order that I not pay any attention to Non Emailer, I did. A lot of attention. But only in response.

I had every intention of staying true to the course. Play it cool yet friendly. But every so often during the evening, I'd end up chatting away with Non Emailer, just me and Non Emailer. At one point, as we sat alone in someone's room, he asked me if I was interested in Consultant. It turned out that Non Emailer and Consultant knew each other and were friendly acquaintances. I of course evaded the question by asking him why he was so curious. He said he "just wanted to know." I asked him if Consultant put him up to this. And he said no, he was just curious. I commented that Consultant "seemed like a nice guy." Yet Non Emailer insisted on a yes or no response. After a while, emboldened by Jose Cuervo and feeling particularly flirty, I jokingly asked him if he was jealous. This time he evaded the question.

That evening we covered a sleugh of topics. We talked a lot that night alone, and as the night progressed, we did get a bit affectionate--he put his arm around my waist, he rested his head on my shoulder, he threw his legs over mine. In case anyone is wondering, nothing substantive happened in the end, i.e., we didn't make out or hook up. (Admittedly, this may have been because I had to get a ride home with my gal pal.)

The next day, I speed-dialed the Naysayer to report the details of that night's events. At which point, I could literally discern the sound of him smacking his forehead.

"I TOLD YOU NOT TO FLIRT WITH HIM!" he said.

I was confused. I thought the Naysayer would be happy for me. Delight in my newfound attention from Non Emailer. "I know, but he was being flirty back, see?" I said hopefully. "He put his arm around my waist--"

"He doesn't like you!"

"But why was he flirty with me?"

"Because he just wants to get LAID."

"What-what?"

"Yellow Gal, you need to move on. The guy has more than one occasion expressed a complete lack of interest in you. Come on!" To the Naysayer's credit, this is true. I haven't reported all incidents of humiliation on my blog, which I know is hard to believe. But there have been others.

Apparently, according to The Game, one of the tactics a guy can use to bed a chick is to pay absolutely no attention to her for the first twenty minutes of meeting her, and meanwhile pay attention to her friends, the homeless lady on the sidewalk, the two-headed monster at the bar, everyone except the target fuck. During those twenty minutes, the target will wonder, "Why doesn't he like me? What's wrong with me? Am I ugly? Guys usually like me. Wow he's so elusive..." At which point, the guy suddenly begins to pay attention to her. This new attention is then well-received by the chick, which she misinterprets as being well-earned attention from an elusive guy, and the guy gets laid.

I had read The Game when the Naysayer brought it along with him when he visited me. I only understood it in the short term context, not the long term context. But it kind of made sense. A guy shows no interest in a girl for a while. It's patently painfully obvious the girl likes him (again, humiliating incidents omitted from my blog). Later on, the guy wants to get some. Here's an easy target. It's so simple.

As the Naysayer pounded this into my head, I began to feel deflated. And so stupid. Yes, a part of me clings to the hope that he likes me, that I did "win" him over with my witty personality and hip-hugging jeans. But I have to admit, if he did like me, he would have called me, emailed me, asked me out--something. Because, well, that's what guys do when they like girls. Especially when the girl gives the guy a blaring, blinding green light.

But he hasn't. So like the Naysayer said. It's time to move on. And I'm on it. Really, I am.