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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Is there any hope for this relationship?

13 replies

NorhamGardens · 06/12/2010 10:58

This relates to a very close friend. I am trying to advise her on this relationship and I feel I am a bit close to it
& am a bit stumped so thought would ask here. Thanks in advance. I'll try to be brief but sorry a bit long:)

Back history: My friend, let's call her Jane, met John back in 2002. She fell for him, completely and utterly. They happily dated for about 9 months and then she felt he wasn't committed enough & was a bit immature and distanced herself although she still adored him. Things fizzled out. She has never forgotten John and has driven her friends mad about him :) She hoped he would come back to her if he was the 'one' etc. They have a chemistry, share lots in common otherwise and get on like a house on fire.

Jane is now 32 and John is 30.

Around 2004 they briefly dated again, same in 2008. Same result was that Jane felt John wasn't really interested in the serious relationship she hoped for.

John called Jane out of the blue earlier this month. They have kept in vague touch via FB etc and the odd drink but this call was unexpected but she was delighted. He said he'd had time to think things over and wanted to make a go of it. The first thing he did was to ask her to a house party on the coast where she would get to meet his close friends and stay over/spend the weekend that sort of thing. In the past he hasn't really mixed Jane with his friends so she took this to be a good sign. He said he wanted her to meet everyone informally and was very excited about it all.

On the car on the way down the coast various friends of Johns called up asking if there would be any 'hotties' at the party etc. John mentioned a few girls which Jane thought were girls John had been sexually involved with at some point in time, he has a bit of a reputation as a player. Jane was beginning to wonder and get nervous.

Long story short they arrive and John is incredibly attentive. The hostess says that John has reserved the best room in the house for Jane and wanted everything to be perfect for her. They go into dinner and Jane has John on one side and some other guy on the other side.
John says something about this guy to suggest he is 'important' and 'rich' and he will introduce Jane if she likes. Alarm bells are ringing. Jane adores John after all but did John mean it in the way she fears?

They eat and drink a lot and the other people, friends of Johns, are surprisingly nice and very friendly. About 2am the party continues and Jane is exhausted so John sees her to bed. He says he is going back down to join the party for a bit. Jane thinks nothing of it and goes back to sleep. In the morning John is cuddling her and all seems well.

John asks her not to go downstairs without him in the morning. John is exhausted and wants to sleep on. Someone knocks at the door and asks them to go downstairs for lunch but John isn't feeling well so Jane stays with him.

About 4.00pm John gets up and showers and asks Jane to let him go downstairs first and then follow him a few minutes later. She does this (I did ask why!) They all watch a film and get a take away. Jane goes to cuddle up to John and he pushes her away saying loudly he is 'too hot'. She feels overly clingy and hurt.

John then drives her back to his place and acts a bit distant but not completely off hand. He's been quiet since. Is there any hope for Jane? WWYD? And why might John have behaved like this?

Thanks for any input. Sigh, I feel exhausted by it all.

OP posts:
ChippingIn · 06/12/2010 11:02

WTF?

Did she ask him why he didn't want her to go downstairs before him? The whole thing is bizarre - I wouldn't see him again, I'd delete him from FB, phone memory etc

SingingTunelessly · 06/12/2010 11:05

Confused Is she always such a doormat btw? So she hung around the bedroom because he told her to - nothing to eat or drink? Weird. Why on earth would anyone want a relationship with such a vile sounding man.

No idea what was going on either.

AlistairSim · 06/12/2010 11:05

No, he had his chance back in 2002.

He's too much of a player.

notwavingjustironing · 06/12/2010 11:07

is this a plot for a novel?

NorhamGardens · 06/12/2010 11:09

She's not a doormat and I think felt a bit out of her depth with these people and in an unfamiliar large house and setting.

I would have gone downstairs on my own but I am older and maybe that's just me?

It just seems a bit bizarre I agree. I do think it's odd he would have taken her to this party if he wasn't planning on making a go of it on one level? But maybe that's judging by my own standards?

OP posts:
rookiemater · 06/12/2010 11:13

No hope whatsover unless she actively enjoys being treated like rubbish by a player. She needs to work on her self esteem in order to meet a genuine partner.

NorhamGardens · 06/12/2010 11:19

I am not sure he really is a player, knowing him a little. For some reason she really looks up to this guy, he has God like qualities in her eyes.

She's been very upset since the weekend and for that reason alone I think she should probably cut all ties with him. She says she had a real connection with him when they dated.

I've told her that it really shouldn't be all that hard. In my experience if it's meant to be it all slots into place fairly easily, but that's my view. If it feels like you are pushing water uphill it's all wrong IMO.

Also I wonder if something happened with another girl that weekend hence his odd behaviour the next day? (Although I've said I don't think he's a player)I haven't said this to her.

OP posts:
rookiemater · 06/12/2010 11:43

It does sound very much as if there was another girl involved. I once went on a singles ski holiday and one lady and guy were inseperable for the week, it was a real full on romance, except he wouldn't let her put up any pictures of them together on the group website, as because it turns out he had a relationship at home, oh and came on to me very publicly on the last night.

I agree with you if it is that difficult at this stage it doesn't bode well for the future.

allouttalove · 06/12/2010 11:44

Very weird. If it was me I would assume it was some kind of gimp orgy fancy dress party with a twist and he didn't want her to see until everyone was dressed normally. But that's just me...
Did she get any vibes that there was something else or another agenda for this 'party'?? Very bizarre.
She should run a mile.

NorhamGardens · 06/12/2010 11:49

Not sure re: party. From what she's said about the party the crowd were very posh and a bit decadent (not really her scene). I think she felt out of her depth. It might be they were doing something he didn't want her to see etc? So that might be part of it.

OP posts:
allouttalove · 06/12/2010 11:56

Also could have been drugs?
But from the conversations he was having on the way down to the friend just sounded very much like there was a sexual undertone and he certainly sounds sexually liberal.
Maybe they were checking her out in terms of what she might find acceptable and decided she might be freaked out if she walked downstairs into groups lying naked together. He is definetly NOT looking for a meaningful relationship. She really needs to put him firmly out of her mind.

NorhamGardens · 06/12/2010 12:00

Yes, I wouldn't be surprised re: drugs, although John is quite vehemently anti I am told. Perhaps surprisingly so? Now I think about it and what I know about him. Doesn't quite fit somehow. Hmm.

OP posts:
deepheat · 06/12/2010 12:02

Eh? Sounds so odd that anything posted here would just be a massive assumption and is as likely to be massively wide of the mark as it is correct. Just wierd.

Maybe your friend needs to have a think about what she thinks should be the qualities in any decent adult relationship: respect, unconditional love/affection, openness etc. and decide whether she is going to get any of these things from this man. To my eyes, it seems unlikely. Somtimes people can long for love/companionship so much that they can willingly enter into a life of insecurity, unanswered questions and low-self esteem just to get it.

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