What I Don't Understand...

...is people who can't just be honest with you. I wouldn't ever want somebody to pretend to like me or pretend to be my friend if they weren't interested - I don't want people to feel obliged to hang out with me for whatever reason. But for reason, there are those people who are sugar-sweet to you when they see you and always act interested in your life and hanging out "sometime" but there is all kinds of evidence to the contrary that if they had their druthers, they would not involve you in their life at all. I don't understand it, why waste time pretending with people? It's not like I begged them to be my friend and cried until they agreed to hang out with me. If you don't have any thing in common or enjoy spending time together, don't force it - life's too short. Surround yourself with people you like, period.
And the converse is true too, best illustrated with opposite-sex relationships. After a first date, social rules dictate a person play it cool and not lay all their cards on the table. Why is that? The thing that really caught my attention with Anthony was he asked me out on a second date the day after our first one and it was for 2 nights later. He liked me and was interested in spending more time getting to know me, and he made no attempt to lie about it. It was shocking, but really honest and made me that much more interested in him since he didn't feel any ties to society's silly rules.
And this happens with friendships too - I have this one friend that absolutely fascinates me but I always feel I have to play it somewhat cool and not let this person know I would hang out with them every weekend if I could. Because of growing up in a military environment and having a revolving door of friends for my entire life, one could say I'm too quick to drop friends if something feels off or forced. And sometimes I feel bad about that, but sometimes I think it's a good thing - I don't waste time putting on a front and taking up their time. Same as dating - once you know it's not going to work, it's best to be upfront and just move on. You wouldn't want to waste your life dating someone you saw no future with, so why do we do that with friends? If it's a compatibility issue, there is no reason to feel bad about it. Different people have different interests, so why do we hang on? What are we scared of?
So yeah, I do not understand that. Maybe it comes from people who grow up in the same town with the same people - you have to keep things even because you spend years residing in the same area. But at our age, we're at a point where we can pick our friends and meet new people doing new things, so move on already. Embrace life and really enjoy the people you choose to spend time with!