DR. WALLACE: I was dating a guy I'm interested in for about three weeks, and then he simply vanished into the wind. He has not taken my telephone calls or returned any of my text messages.

We are both college students at the same university (at least I think he goes here), and everything seemed fine until he vanished off my radar. I believe he's 20, and I'm 19. And now that I think about things more carefully, it's interesting that I never saw his identification or knew where he lived or what classes he had here.

But since I was first introduced to him by a casual friend I have here at school, I just assumed he was all right or she would not have made the introduction. Now here's where it gets interesting, as this girl had been nice to me at first, but other friends tell me that she's been spreading some really nasty rumors about me to her circle of friends.

So now I fear that my guy heard all this and that it scared him off. Apparently, he's still around our town since someone I know claims to have seen him at a fast-food restaurant just two days ago. What do you recommend I do at this point? It's been over two weeks now and I have not heard a peep from this guy. — I Feel Ghosted, via email

I FEEL GHOSTED: I feel you should just move on and let all this go, especially since you only had three weeks of your social time invested in this uneven and mysterious person.

Anyone who would not contact you at all after spending three weeks of supposed harmonious personal time with you does not deserve you. In lieu of him having an accident or major life challenge of some sort, there is no excuse.

You deserve better, and you will find a better and more forthright person to spend time with soon. From here, be careful who you accept references from, as it sounds like your recent experience was suspect from the beginning on multiple levels.

SHE'S A GREAT FRIEND BUT SOMETIMES WON'T SHOW UP!

DR. WALLACE: My best girlfriend is kind of scattered when it comes to her schedule and so forth. She has an "on and off" boyfriend, so sometimes when she does not show up for a meeting we had planned, I assume he called her and she simply blew me off!

This happened twice over three weeks, and both times I did not say anything to her about it. But what's strange is the last time she did it, I found out on my own that her "guy" was out of town, and later I was able to confirm with her mother that she simply stayed home that evening and watched a movie with her family.

She's a great friend, but she is kind of all over the place with her schedule, so much so that I feel like she needs a personal assistant to manage her time. Is there anything I can do about this without upsetting her? I saw her yesterday and we got along great and had lots of fun, so there's nothing else going on beyond her forgetful mind. — Her Friend, via email

HER FRIEND: Start with her cellphone! Ask her to set reminders and alarms that will notify her in advance of her upcoming schedule and commitments.

Offer to help her also by sending her a text or two the day before and day of your planned meetings. This should jog her memory and get her to plan ahead. Finally, when you speak with her about this, tell her that you won't mind at all if she has to change her plans at some point, but that you'd really appreciate knowing that in advance!

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at [email protected]. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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