Signals

“So why are you still single?” Louise asked as she poked her drink’s ice with the straw.

“Because I can’t read women,” Tom admitted after a pause. He shyly ran his hand across his light brown curls, wishing that what he had just said wasn’t true. “I could tell you anything about the men in this bar, but not the women.” Louise raised her eyebrows, knowing that she could never understand the hints men sent her, and wondered if he could give her a few tips.

“Okay… That guy at the bar, with his sleeves rolled up. What’s he signalling to the women?” she questioned and Tom looked over his shoulder for a few seconds.

“That he’s a hard worker and is just here to have a couple of beers with some friends before having an early night,” Tom replied and Louise scrunched her face.

“Well I somehow read him as single and mingling,” she said while shaking her head.

“So you’re no good at this either?”

“Not at reading men, no,” Louise sighed.

“You can understand women though, right?” Tom questioned and she nodded. He pulled out his phone and selected a contact before showing Louise. “Well what does it mean when women put the x’s behind their name? I met her the same night as you, and I want to hook her up with a friend if she’s, you know, normal.” Louise looked at the contact and saw the name Michelle with two x’s for kisses behind it and she winced.

“If your friend wants one night with her, then go ahead. The kisses are pretty much equivalent to a winking smiley, which means she’s trying to convey that she wants some temporary fun, not a long-term relationship,” she explained, using knowledge that she had gained from observing her friends. Tom took back his phone and deleted the contact.

“Thank you. I could have gotten into a lot of trouble for that,” Tom said with a weak smile. It tormented him how, despite spending almost every night searching for the right woman, he could never interpret their signals correctly. He saw the time on his phone and he realised that his date with Louise had already lasted longer than most he went on. Tom’s face relaxed into a genuine smile as he turned his attention back to her. “Would you like another drink?” Louise hesitated, wondering what she should say. So far the date had gone well, but even though they had chemistry she just wasn’t quite feeling the romance.

“Sure,” she agreed, deciding that at the very least she would have a new friend by the end of the night.