I remember my sophomore year in High School a friend walked up to me and we got to talking and then they ask “so are you planning anything for homecoming?”. I just replied “nah. I’m not really into football and I think I have to work that night anyway.” And they were like “Okay well cool.”
Fast forward 35 years, I tell this story to a friend and they said “so did they ask you out anyway?” And I was like “No, I… WAIT! Is that what they were getting at? It actually flew over my head? Holy shit!” And it took a whole 35 years before I finally realized it.
In all fairness though, I had a lot going on at that point in my life. My mother two years earlier had passed away from a three year battle with cancer and my father had left us orphan about three weeks later. I was still processing shit with the whole foster care and nobody else in my god forsaken family wanting to take me or my siblings in.
Oh and I never got with the person because like maybe four months later I had to move to another foster family (which side note: I eventually had to leave that other family too because the parents were that weird religious abusive kind and I got pulled during a welfare check to go elsewhere) which meant a change in schools (had to change schools yet again after that second family). Something, something the foster care dad got arrested with a DUI, something something, you can’t keep kids in your house. But you know looking back maybe it was for the best because it would have sucked to have to move after developing emotions for someone.
Nah, I ask people what they are doing for something (the weekend, Christmas, whatever) all the time and I’m not trying to ask them on a date for that event.
Tbf, asking if someone has plans and then leaving it at that is barely asking someone out since, well, you didn’t at that point…
…I just want to hug you for all eternity.
That’s kinda on the person asking, you kinda have to be more direct about that.
Who read their old yearbooks while they’re on the toilet? You’re supposed to read them once every few years when you find them while cleaning out storage to move to a new place, bringing all activity to a halt for an hour or who while you drown in nostalgia. You know, like normal people.
You forgot the several hour old pizza that’s sitting on the makeshift “table” which is really just 4 milk crates stacked that everyone has, but only seemingly uses when they move.
…and how DID we get them anyways???
I think that’s the point: it’s selling the notion that 2014 lonely dude missed his opportunity to be “normal people.”
See my friend peer pressured me to write, to date, one of the cringiest and worst things I have ever said/written to someone in their yearbook. It’s been nearly 20 years and I still can’t bear to deal with it. I’m so embarrassed by it I don’t even retell the story to my friends (or even my therapist). It keeps me up at night.
So no, please no one ever read your yearbook ever. Burn them all.
And to the person whose yearbook I ruined with my weird fucking comment, I am truly sorry. You didn’t deserve that. I didn’t deserve that. I hope you are living your best life.
Also, what’s a yearbook? Is that a US thing only?
I have one from 1993 in the UK, but I have no idea whether that was a weird exception or if other colleges did it.
UK here, ‘year of 2022’. My school which is bulldozed now to make way for a trendy ‘academy’, was pushing the America style graduation in year 11 (non UK context - the last year of high school. We usually didn’t "graduate’ at the end of the final school year, you would just get your certificates and go join the workforce at 16, or attend optional further education)
We had a prom, to which I did not go. It was all very cringey to me. Kids in my school were already throwing house parties and getting drunk. Why would they need a soft-drink fuelled school disco? A lot of my year didn’t attend. We also had that school’s first ever yearbook. Not sure if it continued.
It’s probably more ubiquitous now.
I’ve hosted exchange students from Asia and Europe, and it seems to be kinda hit and miss with no real rhyme or reason. Sometimes they’re like “oh, yeah, the yearbook, obviously,” and other times it’s like “the what now? But… Why?” Cultural differences are kind of unpredictable, I find. Like, the stuff you think will surprise them doesn’t, but then you offer to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for them and they’re like “WAIT, THAT’S REAL?!”
Maybe it’s US only? I dunno.
In the US, in high school, and increasingly in lower grades, you can pay for a book that you get at the end of the year that has a headshot of every student and teacher, group photos of all the student organization, summaries of the sports teams’ seasons, nostalgic musings, and various other miscellany. In high school, one of the student organizations is the yearbook staff.
Traditionally, you will all spend some time signing the inside covers of your classmates’ books with inside jokes, inspiring messages, etc. In the long ago, people who kinda liked you might even put their phone number in it.
It used to be a thing in colleges and universities as well, and maybe still is at some, but it’s no longer a traditional part of the experience, probably due to being associated so closely with high school.
I have a box of passed notes between a friend and myself, as well as every card I got between 10 and 20.
When I come across my memory box it’s a lot longer than an hour lol
Where did you get a copy of my autobiography? I thought I had them all destroyed.
When I was in middle school, a girl who I didn’t know once confessed to me, and I turned her down. I haven’t told anybody this until just now, but literally the only reason I turned her down was that I didn’t drive a car, so I couldn’t see how we could go on a date. It didn’t occur to me until much later that literally nobody in middle school drives a car, and somehow they still date.
Is Ronnie still making comics?
I genuinely thought getting flirted with was going to be a common thing throughout my life, nope, dead ended straight in highschool except for a few odd ones very sparingly between
Psst that was probably it.
Yeah tv lied to me.
I thought I needed to have a bar where all my friends hung out, like in Cheers/Simpsons. Wrong.
I thought I needed a group of friends and we’d all take turns hooking up like Friends/Seinfeld. Wrong.
I thought having a wacky family would be great like Malcolm in the Middle/Family Matters… Okay this kinda worked out.
Roll tide?
If she really wanted to go with him, she could have said “that’s okay you don’t need a tuxedo for prom.” Or “that’s okay; my brother has one of those tuxedo tshirts and is about your size.”
You’re only cooked if you choose the latter option and he says “have fun at prom with your older brother.”
I don’t think her brother is about his size.
What if he’s just making up a reason because he doesn’t like you at all? If you’re weird and pushy he’ll tell everyone! It already took weeks of imagining that interaction and mustering the courage to do it.
No, this plan is a bust. It’s obvious you’re interested; you just asked him out. So if he is too, then he’ll just tell you. Obviously.
What if she’s just being nice though?
yeah guys always get the wrong idea, after all /s
I feel like i see a joke or comic like this every two months.
Here’s the thing, if you are unsure about the messages you’re receiving and decided not to act, you did the correct thing. You were wise not to interpret uncertain signals as signs of romantic interest, no matter how clear they were in hindsight. If a woman is interested in you, the onus is on her to make that unambiguous and take the next step, because she’s not the one who’s advances could be mistaken as dangerous.
You did the right thing.
Reread the comic she did ask him out directly
Here’s your prescription of copium, have a nice day.
You’re still an asshole even if the person you’re responding to is wrong
This isn’t a comic about someone with self esteem / confidence issues being unable to figure out if this is a hint they’re interested or if they’re just being friendly.
This was a comic about someone not realizing they were being flirted with at all.
No, you could act on in appropriately. Ask on a date, go in for a kiss etc whatever the situation calls for. You can’t force yourself on them or keep trying if you get turned down. But expressing your own interest is the only way either of you will know what’s going on.
Eh, maybe if it’s a stranger, but if I’m ever going to see this person again, I’m not going to take that chance unless she’s waving me in with those airport lightsabers.
the onice is on her
“onus”
Sheesh, you got a stick up your anise or something?
Really onul retentive.
Good catch, I’ll correct it 👍
I was in this very situation where a girl gave me hints but took a step back every time i approached her. I decided not to be too aggressive and ask her out, because i was raised (2012) in a time where it felt like even asking a girl out would be seen as sexual harassment.
In retrospect i must say i feel terrible about it because i feel as if i should have just told her how i feel.
I have spent the last 20 minutes trying to come up with a reply to this, but I just can’t get my head around it.
imo, if you’re interested in a person, acting is always the correct thing to do, because it’s the only thing that resolves aforementioned ambiguity. But acting also always involves asking. Asking someone out on a date, or just to meet up. In regards to physical stuff, asking if you can touch or kiss somebody. Is there something I miss here?
Is there something I miss here?
Yes, the stigmatization of high school boys.
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written like a true teenager with no life experience whatsoever!
why is everyone in this thread acting like girls (or boys) are this mythical perfect beings who always know perfectly what they know and it’s just a question of figuring out the puzzle and finding the best reaction…
You can’t expect someone else to be unambiguous. It’s not a one-way street and no o e wants to be rejected. Talk to people you like, be respectful, ask them out if it feels right, and accept the answer enthusiastically either way. Grow friendships first, and keep them.
