We were hanging out the other night, having dinner, and he started play wrestling with me. He does it from time to time and it’s always annoying. He’s 24, but it seems like the most juvenile thing to do. He has a tendency to do these childish things. He also likes to get a glass of cold water, take a sip, dip his fingers in the water, and then flick his fingers at you. This wrestle was right after dinner, too – I just wanted to have a sit down and let my food digest.

So, I told him to stop it, because it was annoying me. Of course, he continued, knowing I’d get more irritated and that’s funny for some reason. Again, I told him to stop, but he persisted. By the third time, I was getting infuriated, but as he wasn’t stopping, I had to fight back. He’s a little bit taller and weighs a little bit more than me, so it was a bit of unwanted effort on my part.

In one moment, he simultaneously managed to bash my jaw with his elbow and bite me. I pushed him away. Then he pushed me. And then I punched him in the face. It was an impulse reaction, heat of the moment, natural reflex to being – as my body perceived it – attacked. The wrestling stopped there. I apologised, said I didn’t mean it, it was an impulse. He apologised too. We sat in relative silence for about ten minutes and then I left.

I was telling some other friends about it last night. While the males agreed that they probably would have done the same, the sole girl present gave me a pretty hard time about it.

So, what would you do?