The Man Commandments

I was willing to break the man code for Hannah. Willing to risk the wrath of man, well of one man in particular, my good friend Lloyd. The man code states, in no uncertain terms, that thou shall not date an ex of a friend, there was no ifs or buts, no time period after which it was fine - it was a blanket ban. It had always struck me as a harsh, draconian law that needed more flexibility, if not repealing all together. But it was cast in stone and woe betide anyone who broke it.
Hannah was not my usual cup of tea, she was not even my occasional cup of coffee, but I was falling for her big time. Short and blonde, she wore her skinny jeans a fraction too low and her shirt a fraction too tight, showing off her egg timer figure perfectly. Her eyes sparkled and her smile could have been the dictionary entry for wickedness.
It'd been two years since Lloyd had dumped her, and six months since she started working in my office. To start with she was asexual; she was a friend's ex, so off my radar completely. But gradually she became a colleague, then a friend and then an object of desire. Was it me just wanting something that I couldn't have? Was it the little looks she gave me? Was it just the obvious chemistry between us?
I tried to keep my distance, knowing that I couldn't, no shouldn't, break one of the man commandments. But it was no use, I got drawn to her like a child's hand to hot wax.

This was daft, why shouldn't I date her? I was cutting off my nose to serve someone else's face. Surely man codes were sexist, out-dated mumbo jumbo. Modern men, modern world, we could cope with this couldn't we? And anyway Lloyd had a new girlfriend, in fact a fiancé. I made up my mind, I'd ask her out.
Hannah looked at me like I'd accused her of voting for UKIP, a look of utter contempt on her face.
'Marcus we can't,' she said. 'I like you, don't get me wrong, but what about Lloyd? He's your friend.'
My mouth moved like a goldfish but no words came out. I'd broken the man code with someone who was hell bent on upholding it.