“I’m gonna need a little context, if you don’t mind.”
“Sure. So I’ve been dating this guy for about five months now. I’m in love with him. He checks all the boxes, and I gave him a thorough interview before we even started dating to make sure that I wasn’t wasting my time. He had potential, so we started seeing each other, and I fell madly in love with him. The problem is that my friends hate him.”
“Ouch. Do we know why?”
“Not really. One says he has bad vibes, which—what does that even mean, right? The other says he’s controlling, and that I’ve changed since we started dating, which I don’t understand. But we’re supposed to grow up and learn and evolve, aren’t we? So even if I have changed, that’s growth.”
Claudia already knows the answer. Her boyfriend needs to go. She’s just hoping that by some miracle, I’ll agree with her, and she can use that as justification when her friendships fall apart.
Francine gets one less Christmas present for putting this call through.
I take a deep breath. “Let’s start with your friends. How long have you known them?”
“I’ve known both since middle school. I’m twenty-three now.”
“Are they in relationships?”
“Yes, they both have boyfriends.”
“What are their relationships like?”
“Good,” she says. “One just got engaged, and the other is seeing a guy. It’s pretty new, but she seems happy.”
“All right. Tell me about your guy. What’s he like? What do you do together?”
“He’s gorgeous,” she says, her voice loaded with excitement. “He’s from a nice family. He loves dogs and has two rescues, Tequila and Sunrise.”
My brows pull together. For being so in love with someone, the best thing you can come up with is that he’s from a nice family and has two rescues … with those names? Not that he tells her that she’s pretty, that he’s nice, or that he loves her and takes her on trips to see the actual sun rise?
Not a good start.
“What is he liketo you?” I ask.
“Oh, he’s great. We hang out in his shop a lot because he works so much. He’s a mechanic and owns a shop with his best friend. He takes me to Zeroes every Friday for date night,” she says, as if taking her to a biker bar is the sweetest thing in the world. “He had this big party planned for my birthday, but he got sick the night before, so he had to cancel. I was so touched that he took the time to do that for me. Guys don’t do that.”
Apparently, he doesn’t do that either, Claudia.
This is as bad as I figured it would be, and the only good thing about it is that it proves my intuitions are correct. None of this passes the vibe check. Her friends are undoubtedly seeing the big red flags waving in the air—the same ones that I see all the way over here—because they’re not looking at it through an emotional lens.
Claudia’s guy is in this for himself. Every choice from where they hang out to where they go on dates—it all benefits him. Maybe he has good qualities, but she’s not sharing them with me.And canceling her party becausehecan’t go?
Drake would never.
“I have two best friends—shoutout Astrid and Audrey— and because they’re my best friends, I value their opinions. I believe they want what’s best for me. If I didn’t, they wouldn’t be my best friends. So if they were telling me that they noticed a changein me for the worse, I’d think about that. If they had concerns for my happiness, I’d listen. Because who wants more for me than my girls? Real girls stick together. Isn’t that what you told me?”
Claudia sighs. “Yes, and you’re right. I do listen and trust them. But if they were really my best friends, wouldn’t they try to like him? Because they’re not giving him a chance.”
“Is that true? Or did they give him a chance, and he blew it? I don’t know the answer, but you do.”
She groans in a way that tells me that she knows the answer. I’m right, and he’s a dickhead.It’s all in a day’s work.
“You have two choices,” I say. “You can listen to your friends and consider their opinions, or you can say screw it and do what you want. But before you decide, think about a few things. Imagine the dates you’ll go on and the people you’ll hang out with. What will late nights look like? Will he take care of you when you’re sick or become interested in the things you love so he can talk to you about them?”
A soft grin kisses my lips as I think about Drake searching out the restaurants in Nashville that he thinks I’ll like best and how he asks me about my art projects. It’s kind of annoying how great he is.
“I’ll think about it. Thanks, Gianna.”
“No problem. Thanks for calling in.” Francine gives me the sign that the final caller of the day is waiting. “Next on the line we have … Justin,” I say, reading off the computer screen. “Hey, Justin. We’re not talking about Drake, so please don’t bring him up. Other than that, what do you need to know?”
