i love my roommate, as he is one of my oldest friends, and i know he’s often just looking out for me, trying to help, and the like, but sometimes sees things that aren’t there, or pushes in ways that aren’t necessary.

it is the most recent example of this and the circumstances surrounding it that i’ve deemed post-worthy.

i brought a friend to the house earlier this week, a friend of the opposite-sex-variety which, as my roommate pointed out, is a rarity, and so he was immediately intrigued. his excitement and interest is, admittedly, one of the reasons i don’t often bring girls around. when i do, i feel like the special olympics athlete who’s come in last place. “oh, you’re so great! good for you! i’m so proud!” while i know that’s not his intention, it is nonetheless just a bit humiliating.

add to this his belief that the girl in question is ‘interested’ in me and we’ve got a ball game: thus the interrogation begins. “do you like her? what’s the story?” i explain that i haven’t given any real thought to whether i’m interested or not because i don’t believe she’s interested in me. convinced he’s right in his assessment and that i don’t know what i’m talking about, regardless of my self-proclaimed inability to interpret non-verbal cues, he points to what would have been, under different circumstances, clear signs on which he could hang his belief that she is. flirting, cuddling, innuendo, blah blah blah. i can’t envision a scenario in which such a claim by me would ever be taken seriously by him and i’m not sure whether that’s a result of my track record, his ability to believe i know what i’m talking about, or some unfortunate combination of the two….

this, then, brings us to the girl in question. she’s of the uber-hot, uber-flirtatious variety. given that she’s a hottie, it shouldn’t come as much surprise (it doesn’t to me) that she’s very flirty. it’s my belief that the more attractive a girl is, the more likely she is to be carpet-bombing flirt; they’ll flirt with any boy within arm’s reach because they know exactly how the male persuasion will respond. men are simple creatures. i don’t believe my friend is any different.

in her defense, i will say that she’s at least aware of this trait in herself. i give her a lot of credit for the acknowledgment. she warned me she’s a habitual flirt, which is how i knew she wasn’t interested and, in turn, why i said i hadn’t given much thought any interest in her (i started training myself a couple of years ago not to contemplate interest in any particular member of the opposite sex, unless i had some clear indication of their level of interest in me. its just easier this way not to worry about such things).

of course there’s no denying some level of frustration on my part, but its a frustration to which i’ve grown accustomed and so don’t generally let it bother me much. despite both her earlier warning and her more recent apology for ‘sending mixed signals,’ (which was very nice of her to make) i can’t help but find the behavior amusing on some level. i have to wonder how often she has to make those types of apologies to any number of guys who either hadn’t be previously warned, or who had been, but weren’t smart enough to keep said warning in mind as they were repeatedly subject to carpet-bomb-flirting.

and for a roommate who is (or at least was at one time) himself a habitual flirt, i too find it slightly amusing that he’d be so quick to dismiss the possibility of a similar trait in a girl i bring around.

ahh, how entertaining life can sometimes be!