Every week, we give our readers a glimpse inside the mindset of a guy’s brain on weddings with the help of the hilarious and smart editors at The Plunge. For their latest installment, they’re letting us know how to tell if your guy’s friends like you.
Ah, Thanksgiving. That special time of year when we return home to enjoy our favorite annual rituals. Eating ungodly amounts of food no pilgrim would recognize. Fighting crowds at 5 a.m. to save a few pennies on next spring’s outdated technology. Hobbling through touch football games in feeble attempts to relive our glory days. And of course the most time-honored tradition of all: showing off our beautiful wives/fiancés/girlfriends to prove to everyone from the old neighborhood how much better we are than them.
Perhaps this is the first time you’re meeting the old gang, and with any luck you’ll recognize the following telltale signs that they actually like you and are okay with you forever altering the group chemistry and camaraderie they’ve worked for 10 years to maintain. Here’s to the next step!
They Tell You
It seems obvious to read it but if you’ve been thrust into a strange crowd in a strange town and are just trying to keep breathing through the end of the night, you could easily overlook a telltale sign. Worse yet, you could overanalyze it. One advantage you have in this situation (as opposed to the reverse, where we’re meeting your girlfriends for the first time), is that guys are exceptionally transparent. “You’re so much cooler than Dave’s high school girlfriend” carries no hidden meaning.
They Tell Him
Guys are not exceptionally sentimental (at least with each other), so again, there’s no catty politics behind one man telling another he approves of friend’s lady. If they do so in a way that belittles your man, that’s even better for you. “Seriously, Dave, next time you can just stay home and she can come to the game with us.” Ripping on each other is the most elegant way guys know how to show companionship. Again, we’re not complicated creatures.
They Show You
Actions do speak louder than words, after all. (Unless your man brings you to an overcrowded bar to meet his crew. Then everyone’s just screaming at each other. Avoid this.) If the room goes awkwardly silent the entire time your man makes a quick bathroom break (“So, do you guys like… stuff?”) you have some work to do. If the friend(s) are carrying on a genuine conversation with you when he’s not there to facilitate, you’re doing something right.
You’re Invited
This isn’t always a foolproof sign — you may be invited as a courtesy because the group knows your guy won’t show up without you — but if you’re directly included in the next invitation, you should feel pretty good. This is especially true if you’re invited with your man to the next tailgate or game watch. It’s one thing for you to get invited to a bigger party where you’re immediately introduced to Mohammet, Jugdish, Sidney, and Clayton — it’s quite another to be invited specifically by the bros. (If you understood that party reference, by the way, his friends absolutely like you and may actually be encouraging him to propose right now.)
You’re In Demand
“So, like, do you have any single friends?” Also not a guarantee because, hey, we all try to score a quick date now and then, but if the friends are asking you to set them up, it’s usually a solid sign that they like what they see in you and wish they could find a similar girl for themselves. Road trip to your neighborhood next Thanksgiving?
