"So what now? Do I declare my love in an obnoxious way?" He wasn't feeling it.
                              
"No! For fuck's sake don't do that. Earn her trust first. Use the like-word instead of the love-word. You can't just drop the love-word like a bomb. The girl will run. Ease her into it." I really wasn't the right person for this conversation. Even Jake knew I was wired like a guy. He needed to talk to a girly girl. Maybe girls liked hearing a guy loved them even though they'd only been hanging out for a few weeks and they weren't sure they could trust them?
                              
Seriously, if that's the case I didn't want to be a girl anymore.
                              
"I'm so glad you said that. No way in hell am I ready to tell her yet." He was right. Just because you felt it, didn't mean you had to say it immediately. Think about it for a few days. Love is a commitment. Just like hate.
                              
I didn't get people that said hate was such a strong word but they'd throw love around like it was a slut in a gang bang. To me, love and hate were equals.
                              
"As if you would've listened to me if I told you to sing a Bon Jovi song to her with a boom box on your shoulder, declaring your love for her in the words of a power ballad." I snorted.
                              
Jake laughed. A real laugh.
                              
"I definitely wouldn't." He shook his head. "But I do take your advice seriously."
                              
"Why? I have no idea what I'm doing." I looked confused. Is your advice worth something if you're not even sure about the advice you're giving?
                              
Jake shrugged. "I don't know. You seem to know what people are thinking or feeling. You don't think about one person's perspective. Jilly has people skills, yo." He ended on a less serious note.
                              
I laughed. Jake was Jake again.
                              
"Alright, enough flattery. What's the plan?" I asked. "Why did you even run over here?"
                              
"I got frustrated because she didn't trust me and then we got into a fight so I ran to the first place that came to my mind. Dramatic, right? I'm such a girl." He groaned. He was ashamed he'd done that.
                              
"You're a pretty girl." I winked. "Now man up and tell me what you're gonna do." What I've learned from having guy friends is that they don't tell you how they feel, they show you. It doesn't work the other way around though. When girls drop hints they don't get them, you literally have to spell it out for them.
                              
Weird how it works, right?
                              
"Crap. Your stupid Bon Jovi idea is throwing me off."  He pouted.
                              
"You know, you could just apologise for what you said." I suggested.
                              
"But that's the thing. I don't regret what I said. I said it like I was thinking it and she couldn't handle that." He started to get aggravated again.
                              
"Then tell her. Just tell her it sucks that it escalated but you meant what you said. And then you explain it again but in a normal tone." I explained.
                              
"But she already knows what I said! She fucking ran away from me! Not the other way around."
                              
I sighed.
                              
"You're angry because she didn't react the way you wanted and you're scared because you obviously like her and don't wanna say the wrong thing to her. She hurt you when she ran away and maybe it's not only her with the trust issues. How can you trust her when she could slip away any moment?" I did a quick recap.
                              
"Exactly!"
                              
"Did you tell her?" I asked Jake. He looked deep in thought.
                              
"Not like you just explained it." He had a lost look in his eyes. The guy really was clueless.