What Happened When I Stopped Dating Like A "Cool Girl"

From the time I was in elementary school, I was aware of the fact that there was a certain breed of woman that straight guys preferred: the Cool Girl. I may not have known what to call her, but my fifth-grade self would sit on the swings during recess, in my dress I didn't want to get dirty with butterfly clips in my hair, and check out the dynamics of the other girls and boys on the playground. The popular girls who the boys "liked" back then (whatever the hell that means in fifth grade) were t...