The best policy

Me and my friend Angie keep saying we are going to write a book about dating. We've dated enough losers and done enough crazy things ourselves for all the material. We were talking about heartaches and heartbreaks today.

We pledged to be honest if we are ever breaking up with a boy. Honest as in, don't just stop answering their calls and e-mails, but be up front and say, "This isn't going to work out." Which will be tough on my part, because I hate for people to be upset with me. I am all about maintaining the status quo.

That is why I just kind of casually let go of this boy I called Chocolate Chip one summer. He kept asking if I wanted to do something, and I kept being busy. I did have things to do. But as I read in a book that shall remain nameless, "busy" is another word for "asshole," which I was being by keeping this guy on the line. If I had really liked him, I would have made time for him. Let me keep it real, I would have carved out time to just daydream about him.

I got to thinking about one boy a long time ago who wasn't honest with me he just dropped off the face of the planet. Which was confusing.

I said to Angie, "He just stopped responding to anything I wrote him. He didn't say, 'By the way, I am in love with a 22-year-old alterna chick who sells toys - and not your kind of toys.' " I got the message finally. But it never hurts to be clear. Well, I mean, it does hurt, but nobody wants to be left dangling.

People have been brutally honest with me too, which can be rough on the ego, but at least you know where you stand when someone flat out says, "I don't like you like that."

But, in the wise words of Angie: "Even getting your heart broken isnt so bad cuz you pick yourself up and move on after some ice cream and beer."

Of course you don't need to be heartbroken to enjoy ice cream and beer. It's just a good excuse for double portions.