Put Me In Coach!

 No matter how far along in life I'm getting, I always, ALWAYS seem to run across the same issues over and over again when it comes to dating or attempting to have a social life.  It's beyond aggravating since it happens the exact same way every time.  
"Oh, you're just so funny, we should definitely make plans to hang out sometime!"
"Yeah, I agree!  How's your calendar looking for the next couple of weekends?"
"Oh...  I didn't mean anytime soon..."
Not that I intend on reading more into any statement like that beyond what was said but at the same time, I mean, how obvious does it have to be for me to NOT pick up on what they're saying or doing?  Especially when it's happened before.  Whomever I'm attempting to get to spend some more time with isn't having second thoughts but they're looking to play out whatever hand they're currently holding.  My intended already has at least one or two other guys on the hook and wants to see where things go with them before they re-direct their attention to me.  So I'm getting put on the bench to wait my turn at bat.  

Like I said, it's happened COUNTLESS times to me over the years.  Sometimes with friends who I just wanted to hang out with some more but more often than not, it's a new girl I'm getting to know and I may have my suspicions as to what else they've got going on in their lives.  You can glean a lot of information based on what people say and what they intentionally DON'T say.  And it happened again just a few days ago, hence the reason why this topic is at the forefront of my thoughts at the moment.  Girl I had "met" online about a year ago, as the pandemic was just getting underway.  I honestly don't recall the exact method as to how she and I even started talking.  Friend of a friend of a friend posted something and down the rabbit hole I went.  Came across her profile, was interested and slowly started to get to know her.  She seemed all for it and when I suggested we maybe meet up once the lockdowns were lifted (remember, last year when we were told it was just 2 weeks to flatten the curve), we might meet up for something.  She was down for it and we went to getting to know one another better.  
Then pretty abruptly she stopped replying to my messages and her almost daily posts came to a stop.  Once every few days to maybe one a week.  Out of concern, I went to look for her other social media pages and came across an interesting tidbit.  She was suddenly in a relationship.  But it wasn't me she was talking about.  Well, fuck...  Alright, that's the way the ball bounces and I bounced.  She wasn't all that interested in getting to know me any longer since she had a new fella in her life.  Have at it.  And so it went for the rest of the summer into the fall when she would pop up liking some of my posts or a random, stray comment on something and she was gone again.  
Then a couple of weeks ago, she became VERY active once again commenting and liking my posts.  Did something change in her life to where I suddenly became more interesting to her again?  Well, the door's open so let's see where it goes.  
It's like we went right back to where we were a year ago, this time she was the one suggesting we could meet up, hang out and do stuff now that the world is starting to reopen.  O.k...  go on...  
She was asking all the right questions, she seemed really into me again and I thought maybe the dude she had been seeing messed up?  Maybe she messed up?  Either way, she seemed back to being single and ready to mingle.  So I shot my shot.  
"Hey, remember last year we were talking about us getting to hang out, spend time with one another?"
"Yeah, of course."
"Well, your schedule seems pretty busy but is it fair to say you're going to be available Sundays?  Maybe we can start figuring out what we could do together finally?"
"Oh...  I'm still dealing with work so I can't say anything for sure until after the 16th. (2 weeks from now)."
"Alright, fair enough, so I don't want to have you wander off again so can I get your number, text you, maybe even give you a call sometime so we can figure out when we can meet up?"
"Can we just keep it to here on social media for now?"  

Nah, you're not willing to invest even a little of your time to getting something started, I'm not going to sit around on the bench once again waiting for my turn at bat.  Kick rocks.  And the same pretty much holds up for even people I consider friends.  If I make an offer to hang out, do something, anything, nothing and I get a vague, "maybe sometime down the line." You've pretty much guaranteed that I will NEVER ask that question again.  No matter how much I may have wanted to spend time with you, if you can't even commit to anything beyond a generic, "we'll see," there isn't going to be a follow up.  
And if you, as a friend, are reading this thinking I might be talking about you too? Maybe I am.