Are We Dating...?

So, I have an inquiry for you all... when do you officially start dating someone? Like back when we were younger, there was a science to this shit... if I wanted you to be my girlfriend, I'd just ask and if you said no, then I was subject to ridicule by my peers who've been hyping me up for the past three days to go ahead and ask... but on the offchance you said yes, then, bam... we were dating...

In this day and age, I can't remember the last time I asked somebody to be my girl... the closest would have to be with Melissa three years ago; but that, in and of itself, wasn't even really me asking more than it was telling her, "ok, we've been skirting around this issue for a minute... let's just make it official..."

That was a few years ago and I've since then matured to this strange place where I don't ask to have a girlfriend... one day, we're just kinda cool, then another day, we're just fucking and then the next day, we're 'talking'... and then suddenly, it's "oh shit, I have a girlfriend" Like... with me, there's really no certain point where people are like "ok, when are you and so-and-so gonna hook up?" it's more or less "ummmmmmmm... when did you get a girlfriend?" LOL...

I mean, I guess the answer would be when you two are mutually exclusive but even then that can be shaky because oftentimes, people want ME to be exclusive to them, but don't feel they have to be exclusive to me... and the correlary can also be said... there have been many times where a person would say "I'm not talking to anybody else" in the hopes that I would say the same thing, only to be sadly mistaken... and while I understand a person's want to have somebody all to themselves, what's really the point if we're not dating? The way I see it is, if we're not official, I should have free-range to do whatever I want with whomever I choose to do it with... not even talking sex here because I've been celibate for the past four months almost (I know it's not a LONG time, but if you knew me, you'd understand why I put it that way) but if I want to go to the movies with Sally on Tuesday, then chill with Mary on Thursday and then go out to dinner with Joanne on Saturday, shouldn't I be granted that right without the three of them acting like I'm some type of man-whore? I think it's wrong if I'm telling any of them, "no, you're the only one for me" or I'm on some "There isn't anybody else" type steez... but if I'm being upfront and honest, I don't see the problem... now if you add sex to that equation, then that's a whole other batch of watermelons but we're not talking about that...

But then I also wonder... what happens when a person is like "well, I don't wanna be in a relationship, but I don't want you to see anybody else either"? Is that not a relationship? That sounds like a commitment to me, does it not? Is doing all that, but not calling you my girlfriend, really making that big a difference? People are too caught up on titles these days... I know girls who say "I want a boyfriend" but that's a such a broad and ridiculous statement... A boyfriend? Not a good man who'll rub my feet or somebody to lay beside me or somebody to say nice things to me... they just want a boyfriend to say they have one... that's just fucking stupid... Maybe it's just me... somebody ponder on it for me and give me an answer... ya'll already know how I am when it comes to matters of the heart... I get confused... or maybe people confuse me...? Who knows...

Ya'll be easy...