Okay, I'm gonna clear this up before it becomes an issue. No, I'm not all angsty about not having a girlfriend. No, I'm not making a statement about all the good girls being taken. No, I'm not making a statement that all girls are flirty sluts. I'm sorry but I have to worry about flame mail, and I have to get all this ridiculous crap out of the way immediately.
     Basically, what I'm trying to do in this comic, assuming I have some sort of artistic intent, is to demonstrate a situation that almost every guy has been in, and I suspect many girls have been in too (reversed, of course).
     Here's the break down (or, as Young MC put it so eloquently in Bust a Move, "Break it down for me fellaz"). You see someone across the room, you're interested in him/her. Also, there's something, insignificant as it may be, that you spot as a common point of interest... a conversation starter. You've got it made. So, feeling all suave and debonaire, you go over there and you talk to him/her. Things are going well, you think you may get a shot at the digits (not measurements, dolt... phone number), and wham the significant other gets worked into the conversation.
     This is perhaps one of the most amazingly amusing and psychotic dating quirks, ever. At least with a guy approaching a girl, I understand the rationale. Girl mentions boyfriend because something in the conversation reminded her of him. Guy feels at first angry and sad because an opportunity closed up so immediately and violently. So, as a defense mechanism, he tries to feign disinterest. He pretends like he was just making idle conversation the whole time. Usually, he over-compensates, making the girl feel like she's getting the cold shoulder. She, not even realizing that it was her mention of her boyfriend that started this whole chain of events, gets angry at the guy for acting so coldly to her. After all, in reality, it's cruel and disrespectful to start a conversation and then immediately lose interest. So, the conversation goes stale and the two never talk again except maybe to exchange pleasantries.
     Definitely a train wreck of human interaction. So do I have a solution for this? Well, sorta... an idea which might work... maybe we should all just be a little patient of each other. Guys: understand that when a girl mentions her boyfriend, it could be for 2 reasons, to hit the breaks on the conversation before someone's feelings get hurt, or because her boyfriend is a significant and important part of her life. Either way, this says nothing against you, so don't feel bad. Just keep right on talking to her. I realize this flys aggressively close to the "reserved girl no-fly-zone" in your brain... the mandatory distance you should keep from a girl in a relationship as to not offend her inevitably muscle-bound boyfriend. Don't worry.. if he can't trust her to talk to other people casually, that's his problem.
     Well, this one has ended up incredibly philisophical... and because I don't really date, um, at all, it's extremely hypothetical. So I'll end this in a toast. To people in happy relationships! To quote Joe Dirt, "Keep on keepin' on."