The good guys traits are obvious enough - he’s affectionate, apologises sincerely for his mistakes, tries to do right by his woman and genuinely puts in serious effort into holding her down.
The bad guys aka f**kboys are toxic, they come with negative energy and are basically the complete antithesis of the good guys. They don’t even try to act differently from what they are. They hold the badge of being scum to their chest. They hold up their hands when a roll call of a**holes is performed.
There are good guys and bad guys. That much we all knew... until recently.
Apparently there is a hidden level between the good guy and bad guy stage where the 'not-so-good' guys are concealed, all wrapped up in good intentions.
That new mode of fuckery was unlocked on one episode of season 2 of Issa Rae’s contemporary and super-relatable series “Insecure.”
Lawrence [Jay Ellis], who has recently broken up with his girlfriend is still not quite ready to commit to anyone, having been burnt by his ex, Issa [Issa Rae]. He gets involved with Natasha [Dominique Perry] who obviously wants to go all out with him but keeps getting knocked back every time she tries.
However, this does not stop him from spending long weekends [staycations] in her apartment, having sex and doing other romantic stuff with her such as binge-watching her favourite series.
He also feels the need to come open about ‘mistakenly’ going back to have sex with his ex. Note that the confession and plea for forgiveness was unasked for. He probably gave it just so he could 'clear his conscience.'
Tasha being the love-starved, doe-eyed, hopeless romantic forgives him, hoping that something great could still happen with him.
Speaking about her role, Dominique tells Vibe that Tasha “just sees good in Lawrence and she just wants to instill… some self-esteem and… confidence to let him know, ‘This is just a phase you’re going through… and I would love to walk that walk with you, if you’ll have me.’”
She had enough of him, however, when he ‘abandoned’ her at her family party after spending just few minutes and ghosting afterwards.
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And during her rant, she says to him: “you’re a f*ck n*gga who thinks he’s a good dude” and that statement clanged ever so loudly and strongly struck a cord of 'relatableness' with many of us.
So there are actually guys who are basically f*ckboys with just a enough dose of goodness in them to deceive them [and their victims] into thinking they are good dudes.
These guys, let’s call them the ‘not-so-good guys’, have an idea of what it takes to treat a woman right and like Lawrence, put up an appearance of actually trying to live up to that expectation. Matter of fact, many of them are actually deluded into thinking they're great guys.
But indeed, they’re really just selfish and only sensitive when they want to get something or when being with a babe favours them.
The not-so-good guy doesn’t have the looks of f*ckboys or their mannerisms. He usually looks tame, nice, one you would call the obvious husband material.
Somehow, he finds a guileless way to make you believe that he wants nothing serious. Yet, he keeps doing romantic stuff that gets you second guessing his intentions.
And when you try to meet him halfway, he pulls away and hits you again with that stupid “I’m not ready for anything serious” line, leaving you in a continuous, mind-twisting loop of uncertainty on one day, only to appear with sunny, otherworldly bliss and seeming clarity on the other.
Obviously, any guy that won't leave a woman alone but repeatedly refuses to treat her right by defining what's up... he's falls squarely into this category, regardless of his ‘good’ intentions.
Innocent looks and those little, inconsequential little things he puts into being just slightly better than the recognizable f*ckboys don’t really count in the grand scheme of things.
There are just two ways to being with a woman – it’s either you are in or you’re not.
And about guys, there remains only two types - you are either a f*ckboy or a good dude.
This article might have created a theoretic middle ground but in reality, it is clear that there isn’t.
So ladies, as you learn to spot the bad guys, learn to spot these not-so-good guys, too; and avoid them just as you totally avoid f*ckboys, because in the end, they're really just the same.