The Game

Dating is practiced by most singles (and some not so singles) as the desired way in which individuals find a mate. In theory the goal is to find your forever partner, however at 20 the goal seems more like finding a summer hook up buddy. At any age dating can be daunting, the flirting, the innuendo, the kissing, the touching, the correspondence that follows kissing and touching and at the end of the day it just starts to feel like a game. Who can appear to care the least while still appearing interested, yet of course not like their invested or anything. The other problem with dating these days is when do you stop pursuing other options. Is there a concrete question that can be asked without sounding ridiculous, like will you be my (fill in the blank)? The juggling of these other options is not easy either, you start to find yourself unable to remember which questions you asked which and was it Paul or Dave that likes Leonardo DiCaprio movies, and is it John or Jeff that spends a large amount of time in Whistler, and I cant remember if the other Dave was creepy or not, so I guess I'll start chatting with him again (he is persistent... probably not a good thing.)
I enter this rant because it is no secret that I have begun dating, in particular one guy named Dave (this is the Dave that I'm pretty sure is not creepy, and am still trying to remember if he like DiCaprio movies.) Both parties seem interested, although there is reservation on both sides. He seems unwilling to make the first definitive step in classifying what this relationship is, for example: are we friends who make out or are we "seeing each other?" I know we're not "together" as per the lack of facebookness (this is ridiculous that our generation has come to defining the validity of a relationship based on its existence online.) ... ANYWAY, back to my game analogy. My relations with Dave, have left me me feeling somewhat, like dating is a game I lost the instruction manual to. I don't ever remember being particularly good at it, but I must have had some skill at some point.