Who was on Mars and Who was on Venus Again?

So here's the deal-io with the post below. (No I'm not linking, it's right down there...)
The questions stems from my indecisiveness on how to deal with some of the men in my life.

Back in high school there was this guy who is now, in my mind, the incarnation of all that is evil. He liked to play mind games with people, he liked to date my friends and treat them badly. He liked to manipulate people and see what he could get them to do.

BUT. He said that he wouldn't do that crap to me because I don't play games with people and I'm kind of above that sort of thing. At the time I was mildly flattered, but mostly thought it was a load of crap. Now as I type this, I realize that he liked me and that telling me that was most likely his was of being manipulative. Clever bastard.

Anyhow. Before I had that earth-shattering epiphany I was going to say, that I always kinda thought I was just a bit too clueless to play games. I could never do the coy coquettish thing, so I went for blunt and honest. That in and of itself is pretty surprising to most people, because EVERYone plays games. I could prove how even YOU play games - but it's not the point of this post.

The point is, I kind of took what evil-boy said to heart, and I pride myself on being a non-game-playa.

But I'm also an over-analyzer of people. (Hey, I am a girl yo.) And when it comes to men, I genuinely do think they're from Venus. Or Mars. Or wherever it is that they're supposed to hang.

So I tend to not do things that I might be inclined to do because of the male-female dynamic. Now I know that there are some people out there who have very successfully had opposite sex friendships. Britt and Adam. Hilly and Dave2.

But with me? More often I end up with situations like in this post. And to be honest, in my mind I kind of view all friendships with men to have an expiry date. Either a) you start having sex and it becomes awkward b) one person develops feelings for the other and it becomes awkward c) one person starts dating someone else and it becomes awkward. Either way? It's all just awkward.

I don't know how other people manage it - because this is the story of my life with ALL of my male friends. And then situations like this make me question my role and importance in their life.

D2 and I were very good friends, but every time he had a girlfriend I would go months and months without hearing from him. And even worse- when we did get together - he would lie about it to her. He didn't understand that by lying, and never introducing me it made something innocent into something dirty. It got to the point where I felt like trying to seduce him just on principle.

And I always got the feeling from him when I would ask about the girls (ya know, like their name), or resent the fact that I was ignored for months on end that he thought that I wanted him, or that I was jealous. So then I would go out of my way to tell him that I didn't, which then sounded overly defensive and almost insulting to his delicate little male ego.

So the question below? Resulted from me deleting an email that I was about to send charming lawyer suggesting that we get together for lunch or something sometime before our next committee meeting in October. Deleted for fear that he would think that I was flirting with him.

Because men? Have egos. And they either are delicate, or WAY over-developed. So I neither wanted to have to defiantly clarify my non-interest; nor did I want him to smugly assume that I was all doe-eyed at the thought of him.

So I deleted the email. It all just seemed too complicated.

I bet you're going to tell me it's all in my head, right?