Before I asked her out, things seemed promising. We’re both 19, and we regularly train and spar together. She was talkative at the gym, physically friendly when we partnered up, and always seemed eager for us to spar. I took the fairly conventional next step of asking her on a date.
We went out. Afterward, I told her I’d had a good time and wanted to do it again. She agreed. I asked what day worked for her, which apparently introduced an unacceptable level of administrative detail.
No reply.
I didn’t send another message. When we saw each other at the gym, I stayed polite and normal. We still had to train together, and I wasn’t interested in making every round carry the weight of an unanswered scheduling question.
Three weeks later, we sparred again. She was excited and coming at me aggressively during the round. I caught her with a sweep that knocked her down, and it rattled her more than I’d expected. She nearly cried. That part wasn’t funny; I was concerned I’d hurt her.
The next morning, she texted me out of nowhere to compliment my skills. After three weeks of silence, this was an unexpected subject for our correspondence to resume on, but at least I understood the reference.
I replied and apologized in case the sweep had hurt her. She answered immediately. It was okay, she said. It was actually a good thing.
I asked, “How?”
She left me on read again. Apparently, we’d reached the end of the portion of the conversation available to me.
I’m not devastated. One date and a few messages haven’t changed my life. I just can’t figure out what she’s looking for when she pops back up. She agreed to another date but wouldn’t pick a day. She started a conversation about sparring but disappeared when I asked what she meant.
At the gym, we can exchange attacks and responses without much confusion. Over text, I’m still waiting to find out what “a good thing” was supposed to mean.
