Relationships & Desire

A camping trip brought me closer to a friend I have feelings for. But she has already told me she wants time on her own.

After seven years together, I’m telling my boyfriend less about my life. Being interrupted is tiring; getting used to it feels stranger.

A Halloween photo and a casual joke left me wondering how my workplace crush would react to the part of my life nobody knows.

She sometimes waits in her car for up to an hour before announcing her arrival. Her boyfriend is left wondering what happens before she comes inside.

After one beautiful date, he says he loves me and talks about marriage. A month into long distance, our next visit still has no date.

She asked about a long-term relationship after our first date. Two months later, asking to stay in touch was apparently too much.

I’m 29, dating women I find attractive, and rarely getting beyond a second date. Showing desire without making it unwelcome is where I get stuck.

Wanting to keep things casual doesn’t always make the ending easy. But feeling the loss and wanting a relationship are different questions.

He thought a married woman in an open relationship would want an easygoing hookup. After a good night together, the constant contact caught him off guard.

At 37, I want a meaningful relationship. My roommate seems to meet women effortlessly, and the contrast is harder to understand than the hookups.

I can make people laugh and hold a conversation. At 53, I’m wondering how the body I have now fits into a man’s attraction to a long-term partner.

After a few wonderful dates, his affection hasn’t disappeared—but he says we’re too different to work out. I’m trying to understand the gap.