I say "love, he says, "like"...

by Brianne
(Illinois)

My boyfriend and I have been together for almost 5 months, and not once have I heard him say he loves something. I will always tell him I always love to spend time with you, then he says back to me, "Yeah I like spending time with you too." He always tells me he likes me, a lot.

Don't get me wrong I love to hear that, but I am falling really hard for him, but I don't want to care more than he does. Why do you think it is that he doesn't say he loves things? And why does he change things around when I say I love spending time with you, but he *likes* spending time with me?

Will he ever love me?


Answer:

Your boyfriend isn't comfortable using the "love" word yet. There are several possible reasons for this. He may not know if he loves you yet. He may just not be comfortable with the word. He may not be sure what love feels like...etc.

But, if he is actively avoiding reciprocating your romantic gestures, he either doesn't feel as strongly about you as you feel for him, or he is trying to slow things down a little bit.

My advice to you: Avoid being more affectionate than him. If he's not there yet, you may scare him off by forcing him to say something he doesn't feel. Instead, just focus on building a healthy relationship. Hopefully, in time, he'll love you as much as you love him. But, the only way that will happen is if he doesn't feel pressured into feeling that way.

Don't worry about words right now. Just try to be as awesome a girlfriend as possible. He'll come around. It just has to happen naturally.

Good Luck,
Editor, CDI