A simple lunch…now dinner and a movie?
‘Seeing him again…now makes me realize how much I love you!!!’
Let me see…I go on a date with an ex 4 years gone by…make plans well in advance…This will help me realize how much I love my SO? Then, I yell at my SO when she gets upset, because I went to dinner AND A MOVIE?? Dinner and a movie isn’t being pals…(which they aren’t or they wouldn’t have let 4 years go by without speaking) it’s a date. I don’t think that this one can be ‘talked out’.
Now I know that all of the Doper men here are different, and don’t conform to the normative pattern, but I do think that a fundamentally true general aspect of how men are is being overlooked here.
Simply stated, in the vast majority of cases, men do not want to be “friends” with women. They usually want to fuck them. Again, I know that there are exceptions to the rule but, all things being equal, this is a pretty safe starting point.
So, while her intentions may be noble and true (I have my doubts) I think that it is safe to say that he probably wants to fuck her and she is (naively?) putting herself in that situation. She should probably know better.
I’m bothered by her reaction when she called and told you she went to dinner and a movie instead of the lunch she had previously planned. Dinner and a movie does seem a lot more like a “date” than lunch. You didn’t say anything. You got quiet and she accuses you of being controlling? Sounds like 1) this girl has never dealt with anyone “controlling” and 2) she has some guilt issues.
A person can’t help how they feel. They can only control how they react and respond to those feelings. Someone who yells at me and hangs up on me if I haven’t said anything is most likely not going to get the chance to do it again.
Have you talked to her since she hung up on you? I think she owes you an apology for that.
I must have been reading too quickly, or missed a post, because i initially missed the phone call where she yells and hangs up on him.
Having gone back now and seen that post, i think that you do have something to worry about here, even if it’s not infidelity. Because even if her meeting with this was completely innocent, she’s not showing you much consideration, and that’s a sign of potential problems even if there’s no infidelity involved at all.
One of the hardest things in my marriage sometimes has been that me and the various girlfriends I have had over the years are on very good terms to the point that some of them will even call me as sounding boards for various current relationship problems.
Over all this is a highly individual problem. I also share the opinion that just about anyone under the right circumstances will cheat, its more a matter of the people anc circumstances. I have at least one ex-gf who if she called wanting to meet for lunch, would be messy. She liked me ALOT and probably still does, she came across me when I was dating alot of people and she kinda fell by the wayside despite great effort on her part to inspire me to stick around. If I was spending any significant time with her, it would be because I was having sex with her. I know from experience I could pretty much pull a booty call on this woman and not talk to her for weeks then do it again and she was thrilled to see me.
Last I heard she has a live in bf, then again at the time i learned this she also told me she would be happier if it was me.
This girl is an exception, the other 2-3 ex gf’s I speak to here and there are highly unlikely to want anything more than a friendly chat or a hand moving something heavy.
This to me has a certain feel of “throwing herself on the sword”. Immediately percieving any hesitance on your part to approve of the circumstances of their evening into an attack on your part. This does not feel like a positive relationship sign.
The problem is, judgeing by the sheer number of “how do I meet someone” and “should I be mad when my SO does this” threads, a lot of “Doper men” (and women) seem hopelessly naive when it comes to such things as dating and the opposite sex. I generally come across as the asshole because I suggest that there is an outside chance that someones girlfriend, who is flying halfway across the country to hang out with an ex boyfriend, might in fact be getting some cock.
Find a new boyfriend? First of all I can tell you your girlfriend will remain hypothetical if you plan on visiting your exes. No woman likes that shit.
Secondly, why do you hang out with your ex girlfriends?
BOOYA! That is what I am freakin’ talking about! I have girls I’m friends with too. Or at least whom I’m friendly with through friends, work or my GF or whoever. I don’t go out for drinks with just the two of us because at the very least it gives the PERCEPTION of impropriety. It’s not reasonible for me to hang out late at night with a pretty blond coworker who hangs on my arm in a friendly manner in front of my GF when she drinks. My GF would have every right to feel uncomfortible about it because everything about it looks suspicious even if it isn’t. If I need to hang out with this person, I can do it with a big group of us.
There’s a reason your Spidey sense is tingling about this situation. You know those “he’s just not that into you” books? Well, she’s just not that into you IF SHE IS STILL GOING OUT OF HER WAY TO SEE HER EX BOYFRIEND.
I would tend to suggest that you stop trying to call. This seems highly suspect to me, and a show of very bad faith. Obviously, I am not there and I am not you but I really get the vibe that she is not telling you something.
To be blunt, it feels like you are the fall back “safe” guy and she is checking to see if things can still work between her and her “first love”. I would dump her.
You know, in re reading the OP I am struck by another aspect of this. I read it as she went, then called and pulled the “don’t freak out but I am going to go hang out with Guy Swingingdick”. You can’t tell me that she hadn’t planned to do this before she left. This whole thing smells very fishy to me.
Well, when I first started reading this thread the only thing I had a problem with was the GF’s wording. “Don’t be upset, I’m going to see Ray tomorrow.”
Sigh.
Krebbs is driven to defensiveness and gets upset. I would too, if my SO worded it that way.
If I were going to see an ex, (FTR, I am good friends with an ex and my current partner is friends with one of her exes. We have had no issues with this)
I would say, “Honey, I’d like to stop and say “Hi” to so and so while I’m in (city.)” Perhaps if I thought it was an issue I would come out and ask her if it bothered her. If it did, we’d talk about it. I’d reassure her. All would work out.
At first I thought maybe your GF was just being dense,
But as someone who’s been there, done that, too damn many times, I think it’s strange that your GF got defensive and attacked you. Once again, who’s on the defensive? You. My guess, she still has feelings, or curiousity about Ray, she needed to go firgure that out. She went and told you that she realizes how much she wants to be with you.
That’s all fine and good but if she was having these doubts or concerns, why the hell did she not address them before she left?
She sounds a a bit immature, mate and I’d be concerned about why she feels perfectly justified in making you look like an asshole because you are having issues with her rendezvous in spite of the fact that she is doing NOTHING to reassure you that it’s strictly a platonic (physically and emotionally) visit.
I gotta chime in here that in light of the most recent discussion, I see red flags all over the place. One of the ways that people handle infidelity is to go into attack mode. They pick on every little imperfection about their current SO in order to rationalize WHY they are justified in dumping him/her. Then they pick fights so that they can slam the door (literally or figuratively) and into the arms of their lover.
Seeing an ex is really not a big deal. However, freaking out because your current boyfriend PAUSED when you delivered the news that a friendly lunch has turned into dinner and a movie (as if it’s irrational of him to feel a bit insecure and jealous over such a thing), and then refusing to communicate further, suggests someone who is feeling…guilty.
Quit texting her, quit calling her. For pete’s sake, she hung up on you and then went to dinner and a movie with her ex boyfriend. If she cared about you, SHE would be calling you. Don’t let her manipulate you into feeling like you’ve done anything wrong. You haven’t. It’s not okay to think you should control who she sees. It IS okay to feel pangs of jealousy or insecurity.