The Bet? Love. The Stakes? Steaks.

As I listen to Jason Mraz playing on my mp3 shuffle...

I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend, lucky to have been where I have been, lucky to be coming home again

...I begin to cringe.

It's the day after Valentine's Day. And the day before an anniversary of a bad break-up.

I try to remember if I have J. Geils Band's "Love Stinks" in my MP3 collection. Nope. Time to add that to my wishlist next time I'm downloading music.

I'm texting with an ex-girlfriend who to this day is such a great friend to have.

We're lamenting our situations, knowing each other very well, and knowing that we can pretty much finish off each other's sentences if we were talking in person.

We are also both keenly aware that we were not meant to be together, for whatever reason, as more than friends.

Which makes it great, because we can be blatantly honest with one another, and give the perspective of an ex-lover.

I assure her that she is going to find the right guy, and she tells me she doesn't think so.

I tell her she needs to stop going for the bad boys. She knows she needs to, but doesn't know why she can't stop.

Finally, I remind her to not settle...that I saw in her at one time someone who deserves so much more than a guy who will ultimately break her heart because with the bad boy image comes bad boy actions.

She feels better.

I then go on to tell her how I'm not sure that I'll ever be able to find "the one." Or really at this point, "any"one.

In the last year I've really built up some walls in terms of dating/relationships. And this mofo is huge. We're talking people should be taking tours of it, and taking snapshots like they do on that one in China.

But my friend reassures me that she saw me before the wall was there, and that maybe there's a woman out there who can knock it down to dust.

And she does know me well.

Thinking for it a little longer, I decide to test her on her prediction.

A wager: That I will remain single the rest of my life. The stakes: A box of steaks.

So at the very least, if I remain without a partner the rest of my life, I'll be eating me some steak with my gums in the nursing home some day. I know you're jealous.