You know when you’re at a restaurant or bar and you see a group of guys walk in with one girl in their midst? I’m that girl. Now some girls would think that I am lucky to be in that position. The other girls out there that hang out with groups of guys know the truth. It is a lot of fun, but you have to put up with a whole lot of crap. Not only do I get picked on, I am also an up close observer to phrases, terminology, and actions that I’m not sure girls should know about. I’ve learned a lot more about guys that I think I ever wanted to know.
I have always enjoyed hanging out with guys more than girls, mostly because they are less emotional and slightly lower maintenance. Plus you can do things like eat wings, watch football, and give each other crap with no hard feelings. That being said, I adore my girl friends as well. But this blog is about the boys.
Here’s the thing, for as much as the guys hassle me and I think sometimes forget that I am actually a girl, they also take care of me. In their own, sometimes odd ways. Since I show up stag to a lot of events, I never have to worry about having a good place to sit. Whoever gets there first grabs my nametag as well as theirs and makes sure I’m at the cool table. They'll go to a ball field and hit grounders at me for an hour so I don't make a fool of myself playing 3rd base for the first time in well . . . lets just say it wasn't last year. They split lunches with me (okay, they eat 1 ½ lunches and I eat ½), I get invited to things even when significant others are not, they make sure I don't get left behind at the tailgate when it's time to go into the game, and they help me move or carry really heavy things.
So all this time I’ve been smug in the fact that I get to hang out with groups of guys and have a good time doing it. Until I had a conversation with my cousin, Greg. It happened to come out that I had a habit of hanging out with mostly guys. At which point Greg informs me that this is obviously my problem on the dating scene. Apparently when guys see a girl in a group of guys, they assume that she is dating one of them. I can assure you that this is not the case. I have no desire to date any of my guy friends (TMI about these guys doesn’t even begin to cover it). This was a huge revelation to me. Why had no one ever told me this before?
Obviously the next step was to do some additional research. Sure enough, every guy I polled (including the guys I hang out with and my own brother) said the same thing. “Well, yeah, why else would a girl be hanging out in a group of guys unless she was dating one of them?” Huh.
Guys, these are the kinds of things you have to tell the single girls that hang out with you. A little less bodily function discussion and a whole lot more imparting of wisdom on the way a guys brain actually works. Seriously.
