I'm out of my depth:Post-ONS etiquette

"Stop Asking Your Friends What to Text Her"

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.

OnTheWayUp

Senior Don Juan

Mar 4, 2011

For all those who've followed the thread, this girl is currently lying asleep in my bed. She arrived in the mid-afternoon yesterday, having given me less than two hours notice (!), and wants to leave around the same time today. It's been a great few hours. We've barely slept, just talking and/or fuking the whole time! Awesome. It's so hard fighting against my inner ***** though... I'm fighting against myself not to become needy the whole time. I presume this is something that everybody goes through after their first time. I just don't want to get too attached with the distance involved.

"How I Made Sure No Woman Ever Friend-Zoned Me Again"

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.