Your buddy Dave has been single for three years and thinks "hey u up" is a valid strategy. Your other buddy Mike just got dumped and told you to "just be yourself."
You showed them her text. You asked them to decode the emoji. You drafted four responses and sent the screenshot to the group chat for a vote.
She's been waiting forty minutes.
Put the phone down. Stop crowdsourcing your love life. Type something that sounds like you. Hit send. Then go do literally anything else with your evening.
She asks it casually, mid-sip. And you feel the floor open up, because the honest answer is work, gym, and a couple shows you're half-watching.
Women rarely say this out loud, but a man with a life is attractive before he says a word. The guy who spent Saturday deep-sea fishing and came back with photos and a story — he walks in already interesting.
The "22 Rules" pushed me to build a life worth talking about. Turns out the fastest way to be interesting to women is to be interested in your own life first.
Totally agree man. Plenty of ways to get flirty and handsy while cooking with them. I actually picked that tip up from you a while back on here to have her cook with you. Since then I have definitely enjoyed doing that. One of the best tips I have gotten on here.
I agree man! She doesn't seem to be doing it in a biitchy way or to exert some power over me. She definitely seems quality and worth the wait for date 3. Thanks buddy!Some girls just play the power game and that's all it is to them when it comes to sex as they use it for control and power. But there are quality girls that merely have certain self defense mechanisms that has worked well for them in screening bad guys and staying out of trouble. This seems to be the latter. Good Luck OP.
Really good way of getting them to invest in you early on...it has paid many dividends for me over the years!
One of my plates will literally buy all of the ingredients and bring alcohol. It's a no brainer!
Dinner ran three hours. She laughed at everything. You walked her to her car thinking this one's locked in.
Then: nothing. Two texts. No reply. What happened?
You did what most men do on a great date. You filled every silence, answered every question, and left her with nothing to wonder about. No mystery. Nothing to sit with when she got home.
Rule 3 of the "22 Rules" changes the ending: tell her a little, hold back the rest, and let her imagination do the chasing. The ghosting stops too.
That is always good...
Shame
And how exactly would taking her back to his place after the date (which she begged for) instead of back to her place completely kill the vibe?
This babe is a pro at working guys up then giving guys blue balls with that "I'm not that kind of girl (anymore)" spiel.
Well you are talking about junkies here. Drugs will do that. Council housing estate in Birmingham?
Ooo I like that one! Great idea man.
You made your case like a lawyer. Stable job. Good guy. Ready for something real. All true. All irrelevant.
She weighed your points, nodded along, felt nothing — then fell hard for some tattooed bartender with a motorcycle and a gambling problem.
Logic is where attraction goes to die. The "22 Rules" work a level deeper, on the subconscious switches that decide within minutes whether you register as a MAN or as part of the furniture.
Stop presenting evidence. Start flipping switches.
ALL women take coke, my point was even the "quality" women would let the dealer **** them.
That sentence contains at least five follow-up questions she WANTS you to ask. Where in Florida? What brought you here? How long have you been in the area? What do you miss? How does it compare to here?
She handed them to you on a silver platter. And you said, "Oh cool. I come here every week. I love this band. Ummm... pretty crowded tonight."
She smiled politely. Nodded. And never texted you back.
I was that guy for years. Talking too much. Listening too little. Panicking about my next sentence while she was literally feeding me the answers.
Then I found 22 rules that fixed the whole thing. Rule number one: shut up and listen. She'll tell you exactly what to say.
Thanks for sharing the story man. Yeah.. that's the best way to put it - she was like shaming me for wanting to escalate.
Good advice - thanks buddy! Honestly, this is the first chick since I filed for divorce that I've hooked up with that ended up being biitchy. Things she said on our first few dates are starting to add up though as red flags..
"Tall" being how tall?
Everyone ignored my comment in favor of "quality girl"...
She calls you when her car breaks down. When she needs help moving. When some guy she's actually dating treats her badly.
You're the listener. The reliable one. The guy who would treat her so much better, if she'd just open her eyes.
She won't. You trained her to see you as the low-effort option — the friend who requires zero risk and zero investment. Every favor dug the hole deeper.
The "22 Rules" break the pattern. You'll stop auditioning for a role she already cast and become the man she chases instead. It starts with Rule 1.