Next Monday you'll feel more confident. After the gym you'll feel more confident. After one more drink you'll feel more confident. After you get a better haircut, a better jacket, a better job.
You've been "getting ready" for two years.
She's standing ten feet away right now. She'll be gone in four minutes. No amount of preparation will manufacture the courage that only comes from moving your feet.
Walk over. Stumble through the first sentence. Let it be clumsy. Let it be imperfect. You will feel more alive in those ten seconds than you have all month.
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.
That's how that HB9 was two weeks ago. She was pretty dull, stuck up, shy, and just uptight. Didn't smile a lot or joke. Basically what you just described in your post. She was a teacher at an really really expensive private school where the rich send their kids for college prep. At least in her own mind she was a legend and can't be seen where she lives out in public without being noticed. Our likes and such matched up pretty well too and both from the same city originaly so we had stuff in common and she only drank water. No beer.
Reason being, if they are already high value, why the fvck would they be on OLD? They are there for attention or because they are bored. OLD is good for flings and sex; not much more. Look outside in the world.. You'd perform better.
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.
