The Game

am enjoying this but you either have to commit to talking with me or go look at art. And, besides, with you standing there I’m going to get a crick in my neck.”

Seduction is the art of setting the stage for two people to choose to reveal themselves to each other.
Talking in statement form is the way old friends speak to each other. Statements are the mode of the intimate, the confident, and the giving. They invite others to share and make perfect metaphysical sense. Trust me on that—you do not have to spend nights lying in the grass, staring up into our spread-eagled Milky Way galaxy figuring it all out. I have done it for you.

MAN HAS ONLY ONE ESCAPE FROM
HIS OLD SELF: TO SEE A DIFFERENT
SELF IN THE MIRROR OF SOME
WOMAN’S EYES.
—CLARE BOOTHE LUCE
The Women

After watching Marko sit uselessly next to Goca for an hour, I cracked. I grabbed my camera and ran Mystery’s digital photo routine on the pair. I asked them to take a picture smiling, then one looking serious, and finally a passionate picture—kissing, for example. Marko stuck his neck out toward her, chicken-like, and pecked.

one of the only areas where women are indisputably in control.

I have her come over to pick me up and only let her stay a couple minutes. This is because it’s a lot easier to get a woman back to your

And that’s when I realized the mistake I’d been making my whole life: to get a woman, you have to be willing to risk losing her.

have her come over to pick me up and only let her stay a couple minutes. This is because it’s a lot easier to get a woman back to your

actually don’t care what she thinks. When I was younger, this was such a big deal for me. But now, whether I get it or not, I am still the guy who goes for it.
It helps to just think of the girl as practice. If the fear is still there inside, just say, “Phase-shift! I’m now a caveman! I’m no longer Style. Let’s see if she hates me. If so, fuck it. I don’t give a shit.”
Look back to girls you didn’t caveman, and they aren’t in your life. So fucking what? Do you care that she has a fond memory of some guy she met six months ago while a caveman is now fucking her? You gotta actually hit on her sometime. Say, “Stick your tongue out.” Then suck on it. If she slaps you, good! That story would rock.

“I just stole your chair,” I laughed.
She smiled and punched me teasingly in the arm. The game had begun.
“I’m just kidding,” I continued. “Stay close. We’ll try an ESP experiment. But I can only stay for a moment. Then you can have your chair back.”
Even though I guessed her number wrong (it was ten), she still enjoyed the process. As we talked afterward, Mystery walked up to Sasha and told him to keep the