I have actually been there-- or very close to there, a couple details don't quite line up but a lot of them do-- and while I obviously don't know about your guy, with my guy the answer was that he truly wanted casual dating/sex/romance. (He did get into an exclusive relationship later that year, but...

I'm on the other end of things-- it's hard for me to relate to... anyone in almost any other state when New York's new cases/deaths/hospitalizations are so low, and holding steady or dropping. And it's confusing because... I guess I should be mad we've reopened? But it's hard to when everything seem...

I think a good analogy is emotional reactions like laughing or crying. When I'm around people I don't know well, or don't trust, I usually control my reactions, maybe trying not to laugh at something until I see others laughing, maybe trying not to show how grossed out I am by something so people do...

I've been staying in touch much as usual when my family and closest friends live 300 miles away. I have a weekly call with my mom, a monthly call with my grandparents, family group text. I should definitely call my friends soon, come to think of it. It all has a slightly different flavor when before...

I hate masks because they make me feel like I should be afraid for my life (which statistically I shouldn't, and even if I did being afraid wouldn't actually help). But I can't express this because people will take it to mean I don't wear a mask. (Which I do. And stay in my house where I don't have ...

In addition to what Alexa said, about not being as attracted to people who "need" you around versus "want" you around, I think people who are more confident and secure are less likely to fall for someone because that person hit a basic standard of niceness, or because that person...

Something different stuck out to me than to horriblegoose and Sam. To me the 'type' thing might be a red herring or it might not: sometimes a type is just a common pattern of attraction, and sometimes it's a true need in a partner. (For example, a 'type' which has encompassed every crush I ever had ...

It's mostly a texture thing for me. I love how smooth my legs feel when they're clean-shaven, and I don't like putting deodorant on a lot of hair. So I always shave under my arms every few days, and I shave my legs pretty much every shower in the summer. (In the winter I shave my legs less, because ...

And an answer that's a little more definite is "I'm not interested in anyone/interested in dating right now". That's true no matter your eventual answer to the question of being asexual. Even people who aren't have times when they don't want to date or don't have a romantic interest in mind.

I wonder if "the talking stage" (where people are communicating a lot, often romantically/sexually, and not communicating with others that way, but haven't defined themselves as being in an exclusive relationship) is actually a new thing or just a new term for something that was already ha...

It does cover a variety of situations, but I don't think that's a bad thing. It just describes the action, after all. "Breaking up" doesn't make a distinction between situations where someone didn't want to put in effort and situations where the relationship wasn't a good fit and situation...

I'm just going to take one of the questions: what's good about being single in this case is that you are not in a relationship that is making you feel ignored. And not in a relationship with someone who is, as you yourself said, "not the right person for you" because of your different opin...

I'd like to cover one thing that Mo didn't: it is not your job, as a girlfriend, to make sure that boyfriends or girlfriends don't cheat on you. If someone cheats on their partner, that is not on their partner for choosing to date them, or not having their passwords, or not being suspicious of their...

I guess I would consider my first crushes the two intense "teacher crushes" I had at middle school age. One was on an actual teacher, and one was on a family friend my family stayed with on vacation, but I refer to both as teacher crushes because they were on people significantly older tha...

An unusual take on a love song: I just discovered "I'll Take Today" by Gary Allan, and I love it because I think it's the first song I've heard (it might be the first representation I've found in any media!) in which a person talks to his current partner about an old relationship, acknowle...

"First love" (best way I can think of to refer to him; we discussed dating but never officially did) was my lab partner in Chem class in high school. We started talking outside of class when he asked me for homework help. First boyfriend was introduced to me by a friend we had in common. H...

My boyfriend has given me a couple of stuffed animals, which of course are great for hugging. One is a rabbit because my house at school once discussed our "spirit animals" (what animal fits your personality) and I decided mine was a rabbit. The other is a very realistic elephant. Having s...

I think the sense in which it "just happens" is... that when you connect with someone, you do actively pursue the relationship, but usually (barring one of you having a lot on your plate at the time, whether that's emotionally, life events, work to do, etc.) it doesn't take a huge amount o...

I would definitely ask him to clarify what his boundaries are, and tell him that you will support him in sticking to them. His behavior so far is ringing some alarm bells for me that he might be trying to set up a situation where if he "ends up" doing something that he/his girlfriend would...

I wouldn't do it either, for much the same reasons you have. But (maybe because I'm a writer), I can imagine something that might be appealing about it: if it's casual, someone might feel better about showing off their "flaws and weirdness and quirks", because if the partner doesn't like i...

I really like cooking, and have lots of recipes saved up to start making (and some passed down from my mom). I really look forward to building up a "kitchen", with spices and tools. I somewhat enjoy cleaning; at least, I find it satisfying. I currently work retail, putting merchandise out,...

I was 19. At 18 I had someone that I would have been interested in dating, but he turned me down. Before that, I wasn't really interested in dating anyone: I had crushes, but I didn't really want to approach the person and ask them on a date, and they weren't people I spent a lot of time with to get...

It's all going to depend on how someone defines their own feelings. Personally, I would say that you can't love a person without actually interacting with them on a fairly close level, but you can definitely have a crush on someone without that interaction. So if I had a crush on someone I couldn't ...

About email blocking: If you use Gmail, you can set up a rule to automatically delete any email coming from his address. Or (putting this here for anyone who might read this and find this part useful:) set it to "Skip the inbox", mark it as read, and put a particular label on it, so it's s...

Note if you decide to change your phone number: You definitely don't have to explain why to everyone. Or anyone. Just announce that you've got a new phone number. If anyone asks why, you can just casually say, "Something came up and I changed it." If they keep asking, then they are making ...