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.
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.
My "game plan" is to call or text when I want to. You only worry about some chick "destroying you" if you place your value in her hands. She's no better than you are.
Dude I think you are very UNDER-RATED as a poster here. I've actually been reading a lot of your stuff for awhile now and I think you are pound-for-pound, one of the best well-rounded contributors to this forum.
How she reacts to you is completely based on the value she assigns to you. Call at the wrong time or frequency and your value decreases in her eyes.
And I should worry about the "value" she places on me because I rely on that "value"? I value myself not her "having" to "value" me or not.
You asked her if she wanted to grab coffee. Then you asked if the time worked. Then you asked if the place was okay. Then you asked if she'd prefer tea.
Four questions. Four chances for her to say no. Four signals that you're terrified of making a decision.
Plan it. Pick the place. Pick the time. Tell her where to meet you. She'll either show up or she won't.
Either way, you look like a man instead of a scared little boy.