(this is in response to my rant here on that guy who told his school-career-long quest for this girl who clearly didn’t want him when she whined about guys (like him!!) being dicks aka the original internet Nice Guy™)
i see ur “but she was rude” and raise u one “we only saw his side of the story.”
of course he’s not going to include the parts where she told him no in the beginning because hi that would reveal him for the super creepy butt zit that he is but let’s do a little reading between the lines here and i’m just gonna say right here, let’s look how many times he mentioned her wants and desires
here’s this guy who, we don’t know whether there’s a history with zoey at this point or not, but she did not ask to be his science partner, he had to, in his words, beg the teacher to pair them up. what do u suppose he meant by “come round,” by the way? u don’t invite someone to come round to the library, u suggest to meet up at the library or the cafe or some public spot. where someone “comes round” to is ur house. once asking and denied, okay that’s fair, but instead of work out a place where they could meet, y’know, like a rational and studiously-minded noncreep, he proceeded to try the same thing five times and then passive aggressively do the whole project rather than work with her on her terms.
times zoey’s wants are considered: 0.5 (i’ll give him half a point for sharing that she did say no to him… five times)
after the failed science class ploy (where, need i remind you, he invited a girl to his house five times after being repeatedly told no), he saw fit to send her three valentines. note the “i tried to be romantic,” can also be read as “i tried to be romantic” or “i tried to be romantic” either of which can be easily translated into the truth, which is “u rejected my more outright amorous valentine-coated advances once so rather than take it like a champ i tried again and then one more time until u realized there would be gifts regardless and disposed of them as u saw fit” because you don’t give someone three valentines do u see how that would happen is if the first two were rejected but that somehow wasn’t good enough
times zoey’s wants are considered (to date): 0.5 no points this round sorry bucko
it’s important to note here that he found her at the disco already. she was there independent of his being there, likely with friends or (!!!!) possibly with a date (!!!!) but we don’t know because again, this is only his side of the story !!! so he corners her at the school dance. after the science project and the three valentines, she has clearly realized that “no” just does not work on this guy and feels the need to (!!!!) secretly leave the dance she came to on her own (!!!!) and he lurked for two hours he lurked that is lurking
times zoey’s wants are considered (to date): 0 i’m revoking ur half point that’s disgusting dude
so we’ve now got a total of nine rejections on toby’s scoreboard, that’s impressive. let’s recount: five times he tried to get a girl to his house, three times after that he gave her valentines, and one time he forced her out of what was supposed to be a nice night with friends. he thinks maybe his game isn’t good enough, his game of disregarding every signal he’s been given because clearly if he just plays the right cards she’ll fall into his lap. so he brings big money into the picture. because if she didn’t want to go to his house or even dance with him then she’ll definitely want to spend quality time alone with him at a concert where, depending on the band and the venue, things get notoriously shifty. that’s gonna work. since zoey is now painfully aware that toby will give her things no matter what she does, and, hey, she really loves this band they are great, she won’t let his creepiness spoil this one and gets that lovely night out with friend that he took from her the night of the dance. because hey, free shit is awesome, concerts are great, and she feels hella safer with her friend than she does in the general vicinity of toby
times zoey’s wants are considered (to date): 1 i’ll give u point for knowing what her favorite band is i guess
and now, finally in year 11 he gets the picture that she just isn’t into him. hijacks her status about dudes being dicks, failing to realize that he’s been a dick this whole time, to spew his Nice Guy™ crap in the most vilifying way possible, considering her wants a total of, give or take, one (1) time over the course of four (4) years of one-sided courtship (spoiler: that’s called creeping actually). so yes, sometimes girls are dicks, but sometimes guys just don’t know how to take “no” for an answer in its MANY many forms, feel entitled to any girl they choose, see it as a game, and then get pissed when they lose.
at what point does a girl stop being societally obligated to play nice? at what point are a girl’s feelings of security more important than some dudebro’s shitty ManFeels? at what point can a girl finally stick up for herself against these aggressions and be justified? i say the answer to all of these is: whenever she damn well pleases. if he can ignore her feelings and continue to harass her then she can be “a bit rude” and get away with it.
in short, you fucking go, zoey jones. toby walters is a disgusting self-centered rape-culture-trained ingrown pubic hair. in short, “Im so sick of boys being such dicks” is the most beautiful thing in the world and I want to get it tattooed down my forearm so it’s the last thing boys see as my elbow connects with their creepy little faces. in short, four for you, zoey jones.
