“But I totally should’ve trusted my instincts, because they’ve never failed me before. Especially when one night, he actually asked me to enumerate all the things I liked about him. I thought it was weird, but I obliged with utter honesty, “You’re funny, you’re smart, you’re cute, you’re charming, blah, blah blah.” I ended with, “I like you so much it’s scaring me.” And it was then that he got what he wanted. About 30 hours later, after spending the entire weekend together—brunching, cuddling, kissing on the street, holding hands, playing Connect Four, while sober, mind you—I received a text that said that he really needed to be alone, and he hoped I would understand.” - Tracie Egan (via mariadiaz)
I thought this was just a Thirtysomething Guy thing — the first time I took someone over thirty to bed, it played just like this, including his turned-on confession, after two dates, that “this is so intense, if we keep going, we might break this,” followed up by three days of Meaningful Eye Gazy sex. Followed by a cowardly IM breakup. Followed by two months of emo phone sex. This was in 2006. Boy was ahead of his time?
More honestly, though: my biggest irrational fear in relationships right now is that men are only looking for this Girlfriend Experience in a tidily-packaged way that doesn’t require them to give up any of themselves. Hold my hand, then disappear. Nuzzle me all morning, but don’t call me. This is where I remember that I’ve been paid for all of this. This is where I’m glad my therapist is loving towards sluts of all kinds.