I was having a fling with a girl at a party, but I wanted not to seem clingy, so I left her a couple of times to chit-chat other people.

Other dudes hit on her, and she denied their advances.. until she was eventually confused by my attitude so she started making out with other dude.

I didn't care, but everyone acted like I lost something.

this reminds. me of a girl I was dating for 3 months.. we had a fight, so instead of trying to work it out I went on silence to let things cool down, think about what to say and also.. show her that I had options (by not taking to her). you know what happened? 2 weeks went by until I finally went to talk to her, and by that time she already had found someone else.

what's the fucking middle ground? how do you show you have options, but also make it clear what you want? it seems that when you try too hard to not care, you end up looking like you're just a pussy with no balls to assert yourself.