Okay, this is just going to be a quick and dirty little rant about socially awkward situations.

I just this moment got off the phone with the new girl (See 9/5). We talked for a few minutes about life, work, plans for tomorrow, etc., yada, yada bing.

Anyway, we're wrapping up the conversation. A transcript (or reasonable facsimile thereof) follows:

HER: Yeah. So please get hold of me tomorrow at work.

ME: Count on it.

HER: Okay, I gotta go get in the shower.

ME: All right. Have a great day. Actually, have a livable day and feel great.

HER: You're so good to me, Murph. What would I ever do without you?

ME: (chuckle) You deserve good. Hopefully you won't have to find out for quite a while. (All right; so we've only been dating for a week, I know, but I REALLY dig this girl.)

HER: (laugh) Thanks. Talk to you later.

ME: Okay. Watch your back.

HER: You too.

ME: Always

HER: Bye bye

ME: See ya tomorrow.

Okay, do you see where I'm headed with this? When you're not in love with someone, but you have honest feelings for them (affection, admiration, respect, desire, comfort?????) and you're intimate with them, how the fuck do you terminate a telephone conversation without blowing yourself way off the charts?

You can't say, "I love you." If it's not true, I don't say it. I "like" this girl a lot (if I may use the 8th grade vernacular). I care for her a great deal. But, as has been previously noted, my definition of love is being willing to die for someone gladly. I would probably die for this girl, but, honestly, I'd have reservations about it.

None of the lesser emotional closers really work either. You can't say, "Bye. I like you," or even, "Like ya," the same way you can say, "Love ya."

The thing I'm going for here with this little diatribe is there's a strange sense of in-between-ness here. The girl is great, and I care about her. She's more than an acquaintance, but still less than a "lover" in the actual sense of the word.

It's weird. Here I am, a native speaker of English, the most expressive language in the world, with a higher than average higher degree of proficiency in that language, and I can't think of a single in-between closing statement to apply to a phone call in this context.

Does this shit ever get easy?

M_