Like Yourself

I recently exchanged phone numbers with some folks I met at school.

We hadn't talked much, but they were girls that I would say "hi" to every now and then, before and after class, and during class breaks.

Throughout the weeks, we spoke less and less. Near the end of the semester, I received a text from one of the girls. It was one of those loooong texts with a beginning, middle, and end. This "text" was six messages long, and I barely even had a chance to register the words into my mind before the next ones came pouring in.

Long story short, the girl wrote stuff along the lines of "do you like me?" and "I can't tell if you like me" and my personal favorite, "are you pretending to be nice?"

Pretending?

Let me say this: If you're so curious as to whether or not someone "likes" you (whatever that means)... first of all, it shouldn't matter. Why would you want everyone to like you? Not even the most kindhearted people in the world are "liked" by everyone. Some are even despised by cynics for being selfless (try wrapping your brain snakes around that lamp space).

Second of all, if I liked a person and they ask me whether or not I "liked" them... that is the moment I stop liking them. I'm a sympathetic person, and I understand if a person has anxieties and insecurities, but I'm not a fan of others projecting their insecurities onto the outside world.

When I lived in Anaheim, I had three really great roommates... and another guy that we had to live with. I liked him just fine for the first week. He was a little odd, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt.

One day, my odd roommate walked in the door and we greeted each other. Out of the blue, he asked "...are you mad at me?"

This is a concerning thing to hear, even for a person who isn't neurotic (like me). It defined him as a person. It determined how the upcoming four months of sharing an apartment was going to be.

"No", I said, "why would I be mad at you?"

Then I got mad. Mostly because I realized I was living with a person who was lost in himself.