r/GirlDinnerDiaries • Sweet Tooth FairyšŸ§šā€ā™€ļø • 17d ago

FML Ghosted after three amazing dates and intimacy

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Meal is half of a sushi pizza and a zero-sugar Sprite.

TLDR: I fucking hate modern dating, and I wish people with avoidant attachment were legally required to wear bells around their necks like lepers. I hate being single, but I can never trust any guy who says he likes me and wants to keep dating me ever again 🫠

I started seeing this guy (26M) I met on Bumble, and we went on three amazing dates. We talked endlessly about everything, and the chemistry was like nothing I'd ever experienced. We went dancing, he took me out to dinner, and we spent hours at the beach. I'd finally gotten the courage to start dating again after being dumped with no explanation nine months ago. I thought, "He seems pretty emotionally stable. We really like each other. And he's a bit older, so he probably has more of his dating intentions figured out." Yeah, right.

He came over to my place last week, and we had a wonderful time. We were supposed to watch the first 'Lord of the Rings' movie together, and he even brought over this silly prop sword to show me. We ended up watching 'Arcane' instead because I'd never seen it, and he insisted it was really good. We slept together and then got takeout. He said he'd "miss me" when he went back to work and that we'd surely see each other again. I knew he'd be away for at least a week because he works long shifts on a boat.

I noticed a few days ago that he was taking a long time to respond, and his responses were getting shorter. He was still sending occasional pics of what he'd been up to. He apologized the first time he went "MIA," citing that the "air at work has been really weird." He said last Saturday that he meant to ask me out again, but his situation got complicated because his dad was in town. He'd already told me about this in person, so I said, "No worries at all. I know how important family and work are ā¤ļø." I then asked him how dinner with his dad had been. He told me where they'd gone to eat and that he had a good time. He hearted a picture I sent of the sushi pizza I was eating (the one I'm currently drowning my sorrows in). I'd already gotten this awful pit in my stomach and pulled an all-nighter due to an anxiety attack. But of course, I figured it would be pathetic of me to bring this up at all, so I said, "I'm so glad you had a good time with him 🄰. I was starting to think that the boat had swallowed you again šŸ˜‚." He read it and hasn't responded in over two days.

I've spent this time quietly crying in my room, with a pain in my chest, and trying to sleep the bad thoughts away. My worried parents keep coming in asking what happened, and I can't tell them anything. I kept the fact that I was seeing someone from them on purpose because it was too early and in case something exactly like this happened. And I had this guy over while they were away on a trip. I didn't want to get excited so quickly just for him to turn out awful. I'm devastated regardless, and my trust in men, which I spent so long trying to rebuild, is shattered once again.

Why can't people just be honest if something's changed? I know we haven't known each other long, and no one owes me a relationship, but it's so fucked up to suddenly pull away after so much was shared. This exact thing happened with my ex, and I thought the chances of it happening again were surely slim to none. Because like, what the hell did I ever do to deserve this kind of deception? All I want, all I've ever wanted, is to be in a loving, trusting relationship.

I want to send him a short, final message telling him how hurtful and confusing this lack of communication has been, but I know I might be shooting myself in the foot.

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u/InquisitiveMind997 APPROVED✨ 17d ago

Always relevant.

970

u/Aspiringtropicalfish hot girls have tummy troubles 17d ago

wish i could have seen this at 20

499

u/pineappleshampoo šŸ„ Herbivore šŸ«’ 16d ago

A male friend told me this at 24 and it was a REVELATION.

Wasn’t over a romantic connection, I wanted to send this long paragraph to my brother about how much I was hurting due to stuff between us that was legitimately terrible (domestic abuse involved, kids involved, criminality, just the works).

Showed him the message and he said nah don’t bother. He won’t even read it. He’ll open it and think TL;DR. And even if he read it he’d just feel satisfaction you care so much and that he’s got that power.

Life changing

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u/NotMyFirstRodeo2025 APPROVED✨ 16d ago

Its true. Finally sent my mom a long list of years of reasons why I've been mad at her (25 years) and she just wanted to "move past it and not dwell in the past." I'm sure she would like that, because then she can ignore and not take responsibility for her shitty behavior. When people don't care about you, that's how they are. If I care about someone, and I realize I hurt their feelings, I'm super apologetic and wanting to make sure that they know I didn't mean it and that they're okay. That's the difference. A long note explanation won't matter because to them, you don't matter.

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u/TrixyTreat Body By Cheese šŸ§€ 15d ago edited 12d ago

Had this same situation happen between me and my former best friend. The only closure I got from pouring my heart out about how she hurt me was realizing that I was her best friend. She was never mine.

356

u/a_chewy_hamster Short Story Longā„¢ļø 17d ago

Hell, wish I had seen this at 40. Ugh.

313

u/Celeraic šŸ¦‡ Fruit Bat Baddie šŸŠ 17d ago

I am 47 and I literally needed to see that today.

293

u/gloomspell naan of my business buuttt šŸ‘€ 17d ago edited 16d ago

I’m 39 and literally just drafted a long message to send to a guy that I was going to send tomorrow. Rethinking that now.

Edit to add: The guy dumped me (for the second time) a week before my mom’s funeral, but ā€œwants to stay friends.ā€ I wrote a long message breaking down why I didn’t want that. I do still plan to tell him that, bc it’ll make me really anxious to not have closure since we see each other in shared spaces. But I reconsidered the long message, though, and instead drafted something short and to the point. He doesn’t deserve for me to be gentle with his feelings, bc he hasn’t been gentle with mine.

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u/Bitter-insides Pantry Gremlin 16d ago

There is this awesome website called project unsent.

It saved me when I went through stupid heartbreak. You send whatever note you need to the one you’re crying over but it gets published anonymously instead.

It gets it off your chest and the urge to message them. I send dozens and they helped me heal.

https://theunsentproject.com

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u/BougieSemicolon white girl with ā˜ļøšŸ˜Œ a full spice cabinet 16d ago

Oh like post secret !

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u/Bitter-insides Pantry Gremlin 16d ago

What is that? Never heard of it … hold going to google lol

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u/gloomspell naan of my business buuttt šŸ‘€ 15d ago

Same idea as Unsent, but using postcards that often have cool art or collages on them. And doesn’t need to be something you want to say to any one person, just a ā€œsecretā€ or statement that you want to share anonymously.

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u/gloomspell naan of my business buuttt šŸ‘€ 15d ago

Post Secret was (is?) fantastic. I used to be subscribed to them and it was so cathartic to see all the messages.

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u/hardcorefuzzybunnies white girl with ā˜ļøšŸ˜Œ a full spice cabinet 16d ago

Be strong, don't text him, you got this šŸ’Ŗ

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u/a_chewy_hamster Short Story Longā„¢ļø 16d ago

Girl, it's not worth it. Speaking from experience here. Save your energy for something more worthy of your time.

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u/thatgirlinny APPROVED✨ 16d ago

Start walking fast—literally. Now walk fast and visualize leaving him in your dust. He doesn’t fucking deserve to know how you feel.

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u/adsurgere šŸ+ šŸ• 15d ago

In so many situations they never want to ā€œstay friendsā€ for your benefit. It’s so they can preserve access to you while also making it look like they’re not the bad guy cuz if he was really that awful you wouldn’t be friends with him

Sorry youre going through this tho. Better off without him! But it does suck for a while šŸ«‚

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u/gloomspell naan of my business buuttt šŸ‘€ 15d ago

Thank you, I appreciate that. He was saying we could still be friends and I could still come to him with my problems because he’s ā€œpretty smart, and gives pretty good advice.ā€ šŸ™„ The guy definitely has an ego. I thought it was audacious of him to dump me and hurt me so many times, but then still expect me to come crying to him with my problems. I realized I can never be vulnerable with him again after the ways he’s treated me. He said he couldn’t be with me romantically anymore because I was ā€œtoo sensitiveā€ and he ā€œcouldn’t be himself around meā€ because I don’t like being teased. My mom died only about 6 weeks ago. Even if we stay ā€œjust friendsā€, I’m not going to magically stop being sensitive or start being okay with being teased. And I don’t understand why he thinks he’ll be able to treat me better as a friend than as a romantic partner. So I don’t want to be friends. And I do plan to tell him that. I’m just not going to send him a long message explaining everything or putting it gently, bc he doesn’t deserve that. He’s been very selfish, and now it’s my turn to be a little selfish.

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u/adsurgere šŸ+ šŸ• 14d ago

Wtf? This guy sucks. Sounds like he has the emotional maturity of a sock but can’t handle how that makes him look so instead of actually maturing he’d rather decide that you are the problem aka you’re too sensitive.

>> I don’t understand why he thinks he’ll be able to treat me better as a friend than as a romantic partner

šŸ‘† He doesn’t. His friendship offer is not maturity or benevolence or a compliment. He’s manipulating the word ā€œfriendā€ so that he can maintain the upper hand. This way he can maintain access to you on his terms. He can also avoid looking like the villain if you’re his ā€œfriendā€. He doesn’t have to process how he treated you or the shame of his behavior if you’re still ā€œfriendsā€ aka he doesn’t have to face himself. He’ll keep your hope alive if it means keeping his ego alive.

If you can just not reply and block him, I think that’s ideal for protecting yourself but I know that’s hard to do, so if you text him just remember the less said the better. Any vulnerability or big display of emotion (even anger) will just feed his already gigantic ego. You’re not being selfish - you’re protecting yourself from someone who is unsafe.

I’m really sorry about your mom ā¤ļøā€šŸ©¹. Sending hugs your way sis šŸ«‚šŸ«‚šŸ«‚

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u/gloomspell naan of my business buuttt šŸ‘€ 13d ago

Thank you. I appreciate your kind and thoughtful answer. You’re right that he doesn’t want to process how shameful his actions are and he tries to convince himself that he’s a good person, while hurting others, lashing out at people who don’t deserve it, and pretty much doing whatever he wants. Then he drowns his problems in alcohol to ignore them (except for the occasional drunken meltdown where he admits that he’s actually a horrible person). I didn’t tell him any of this, but there was definitely part of me that wanted to. But it wouldn’t have helped. I know he’s aware of what’s wrong with him, and calling it out would just turn his anger on me. Instead, I just said he hurt me by dumping me a week before my mom’s funeral, that he’s hurt me many times before that, and I’m not going to sign up for getting hurt again, so I didn’t want to talk to him anymore. It was hard to say, but I did it. He did apologize one more time, but he also accepted things pretty calmly. I think he knew he had fucked up pretty bad, and I’m just glad things ended peacefully and I can start the process of moving on.

2

u/NotMyFirstRodeo2025 APPROVED✨ 16d ago

Just type "no" and block him.

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u/[deleted] 16d ago

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u/madame-maitre-d Overthinker šŸ’­ 16d ago

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u/schrodingers-tiger 🐟 Part Bear 🫐 16d ago

girls rule!

29

u/Bitter-insides Pantry Gremlin 16d ago

There is this awesome website called project unsent.

It saved me when I went through stupid heartbreak. You send whatever note you need to the one you’re crying over but it goes to the void. It gets it off your chest and the urge to message them. I send dozens and they helped me heal.

https://theunsentproject.com

2

u/sweet_tea_mama FREE MOM HUGS 16d ago

I love this concept!

1

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u/madame-maitre-d Overthinker šŸ’­ 16d ago

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109

u/InquisitiveMind997 APPROVED✨ 17d ago

Me too solidarity hugs

2

u/EarlyInside45 Internet Auntie 16d ago

Wish I'd seen this at 47.

2

u/FrnklyFrankie APPROVED✨ 16d ago

Wish I'd seen it at 15 tbh

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u/[deleted] 16d ago

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u/yellow_pterodactyl APPROVED✨ 16d ago

Same. Urgh

1

u/EfficientFish_14 Fries šŸŸ > Guys 🤔 16d ago

Me too.

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u/[deleted] 16d ago

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113

u/anniebumblebee Tiny Bodega Rat šŸ€ 17d ago

this!!! i think it also gives some people a complex about like ā€œwow, i’m so desirable that it really tore up this person to lose meā€

130

u/ElegantBon Sweet Tooth FairyšŸ§šā€ā™€ļø 17d ago

Someone who can upset you they much had control over you -
no reason to let them know that. Be unflappable, be indifferent, or fake it or block till you make it.

32

u/kuynhxchi APPROVED✨ 16d ago

Our hearts are soft and these hearts are meant to be kept soft :-(

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u/South-Hovercraft-351 Delulu 16d ago

I partially disagree with this. If you need to give him a piece of your mind, I say do it. However, do it knowing his response might be terrible or non-existent. I gave my ex a piece of my mind and he never replied and to this day I’m so so happy I did. I have no regrets about things I shoulda coulda woulda said to him because I already did!

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u/Flashy-Ad-2120 what that mouth do is gossip 16d ago

This is me. I used to do the non chalant shit but I have nothing to lose by saying how I feel. And yes I do so knowing it may not be received. Oh well. I don’t do this often though only if I really feel compelled to.

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u/Infamous-Claim-747 APPROVED✨ 16d ago

Honestly I just started calling them out on their shitty behavior.

1

u/[deleted] 16d ago

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u/South-Hovercraft-351 Delulu 16d ago

Yes it’s the compulsion that’s the key part. You’re doing it for yourself!

19

u/jessexpress APPROVED✨ 16d ago

I typed out such a long message to a guy once as a teen and just deleted it before sending and almost 20 years later I’m so glad I never sent it 😭 It feels cathartic to write at the time but no good will ever come from sending it. For anyone feeling the impulse, I’d recommend writing your thoughts down to get it all out but erase/burn it afterwards!

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u/PensionTemporary200 APPROVED✨ 16d ago

Sometimes you send it for the pleasure of speaking your truth though. I don’t care about maintaining the good opinion/dignity towards someone who I won’t see again or who mistreated me

5

u/bigcookie879 APPROVED✨ 17d ago

I always do that

20

u/CandyStarr23 APPROVED✨ 17d ago

I definitely agree with this but sometimes there are just genuinely dumb guys out there that have no idea how their actions affect people lol

39

u/KiloJools LET ME EAT CAKE šŸ° 17d ago

They can go to therapy, then, when they finally start to wonder why they can't keep a girlfriend.

22

u/gemInTheMundane Carb-Based Life Form 17d ago

Exactly. It's not a partner's job to fix them. And certainly not an ex.

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u/PrettyRangoon Chaotic But Cute 12d ago

Nah. I used to think like this, but have since stopped. They know good and well how it feels when people treat them badly. Yet some how when it comes to their actions they're suddenly this non-pejorative form of stupid or magically oblivious? Absolutely not.

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u/susiecapo71 Chaotic But Cute 16d ago

Damn this is profoundly correct at any age. Fuck that guy. He doesn’t deserve anymore of my time and energy. I tell myself i have too much respect for myself to entertain the thought of contacting him.

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u/Pretty-Confidence104 APPROVED✨ 16d ago

My very sad upvote.

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u/sameheresis2021 šŸŒ¶ļø Spice Girl šŸŒ¶ļø 16d ago

Learnt this the hard wayĀ 

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u/[deleted] 16d ago

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u/sineinfamia HoeMade 16d ago

Wish I had this advice in my 20s 🄲

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u/madame-maitre-d Overthinker šŸ’­ 16d ago

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u/GothicAssassin šŸŒ¶ļø Spice Girl šŸŒ¶ļø 14d ago

Take your dignity and your pussy and go šŸ˜­šŸ’•

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u/ceelion92 Sugar, Spice & Not Very Nice šŸ’• 17d ago

I don’t agree with this - they want to avoid accountability and confrontation, and I don’t think they should get away with it so easily. Make ghosting feel WORSE for them (more discomfort) than polite breakups.Ā 

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u/rratmannnn POšŸ„”TAYšŸ„”TOES 17d ago

9 times out of 10 a person that’s crummy enough to ghost will just take your paragraph as confirmation they did the right thing. ā€œShe was crazy anyway looks like I dodged a bulletā€ etc

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