“Girlfriend” never just meant being a girlfriend to a man.
Clearly the words “Yes” and “No” were never just as simple as that to a man.
But you didn’t know that at first, did you? Of course not, he was your everything – you were finally safe and laid soft in someone's embrace. But, the embrace slowly started to pull back, taking you along with it. Switching roles wasn’t the problem, holding him when he cried wasn’t the problem; it was the subtle shift in understanding, treatment.
His soft words of praise shifted to cries of need and reassurance – no longer just occasional, but of course it was okay in the start, what kind of partner would you be to deny your lover in need?
But when occasional occurrences shift to nightly routines, when do the titles slowly begin to shift from Partner to Parent?
A man has his mother, he always will.
Rather it’s the fifth grade history teacher who acknowledged his efforts, or the neighbor who always offered a loving smile and welcoming home.
A boy will find his mother.
He won’t say it – he never would. But he’ll act it, feel it, and maybe even hint at it under the well known shield of sexual advances, words like “Mommy” or “Ma’am” because ‘It’s just a weird turn on – doesn’t mean anything’
He clings to her praise and gets off to her words. Listening, begging, obeying everything she said; except for what mattered, or what she didn’t say but clearly showed and cried out.
A man can sit down, take a moment and search his own self – he knows it’ll better him in the end. He knows a race can not be ran without experience or breaks. He can accept the small offerings of water and energy from the people who stood to offer it and he can drink it without shame.
A boy cries bravery and strength and ‘traditional’ values all while crying in the depths of the night, alone and afraid. However, every warm tear that ran down his cheek was filled with regret and the desire to find home, to find his mother.
She’d wipe his tears and kiss his cheeks, holding his face as if it was the last thing in the cosmos that kept her from being alone once more.
A boy will hold weight, refusing to let go – even when his muscles tear and body screams in agony, he will not let go. “A man should carry weight” he thought, believing to himself he was proving his worth and ability to those around him. “I know” “I know” “I know” he seemed to know everything yet couldn’t understand himself, the damage he was causing every passing day only adding more and more recovery time after his eventual demise; dropping the weights and crushing those around him.
“I need to provide, it’s my job” the boy spoke, yet all he did was take; never give. He’d talk and he’d listen yet he always talked a little louder than her, his sentences broken and pieced together. Incoherent rambling not because it’s what he needed her to hear – but what he needed to convince himself of, what he needed to understand within his mind.
She never spoke up, never disagreed – only tried to help.
She offered that warm embrace that felt like home and reassurance, softened down to his level.
She wasn’t better than him, not in the slightest. But she understood. She learned from experience and thousands of mistakes, she could not force him to learn as quickly as him; the only thing she could do was soften the blow.
Damage control on the boy after the collapse. Picking up the pieces and neutering him back to health, helping him understand his past mistakes.
A boy will acknowledge her boundaries and fears. He’ll be there to wallow in his accomplishments of providing – getting off to the feeling of calling himself a “man”.
While she lie in the sharp glass he admired himself in, sweeping up the microscopic shards he hadn’t noticed; tucking them away to herself so he wouldn’t get hurt.
She’d throw them out later, in a place he couldn’t find – sure, she’d cut herself in the process on the razor-like edges but it was her mirror afterall.
A boy will listen to her mistakes, traumas, and moments of failure; repeating the same phrases she’d have heard time and time again.
“Your past doesn’t define you, I’ll never hurt you like that”
And he never did, technically.
He listened when she said “no” and would’ve given her anything she wanted at the drop of a hat; or try to at least.
But what about when she didn’t say ‘no’?
What about when he knew of her deepest trauma’s, deep and intimate – promising to never push or cross that boundary as the others. Swearing on his life he was different while continuing to repeat the silent patterns of indirect begging and guilt to her.
Meanwhile, she poured her heart into gifts of love. Letters and trinkets she’d hope he adored. Sweat dripped down his back as he begged her to help him get off once more.
Dropping every task as she spoke through tears, every word he wanted to hear – bringing him to that much needed release before returning to his other needs; reassurance, care, reminders of love. All while her gifts, once created of love and compassion lie unfinished and stained.
Stained with reminders of what she was to him.
He didn’t know. He never would. Not until he became a man.
But for now, he was a boy. Prancing around the court, feigning his strength for others to see and envy – putting on a show.
She knew it would be awhile until she returned back to her status of partner to him, yet, she waited patiently.
“I’ve had worse.”
She thought, her past endeavors of forced intimacy without an ounce of love within them, the guilt that slowly ate away at her heart of her previous encounters with every man alike.
She hadn’t settled for the boy.
She invested in him.
She knew the man he could be after growing from his mistakes, she knew how much every word of reassurance meant to him and she knew exactly what to say to get him there.
What he didn’t know, was it had all been spoken before – by the very same girl to very different boys.
She always learned from experience.
She learned boys are never as strong as they claim to be, and after getting through their harsh exteriors; there was no going back.
She learned to make the passage of time manageable, reducing the damage done to herself – protecting what she had left.
Not that the boy had ever truly hurt her.
She knew he’d never lay a finger on her even in the midst of angered screams that drowned out the rest of the busy world.
He only nudged her stability.
Pressing on her unhealed bruises, ones she had abandoned mid-recovery to go tend to the boy.
He’d never shatter her much reinforced foundation however, as she always took advantage of the little time she had alone to mend the cracks.
Every night, she lie alone. Tears dried down the face she hated – thighs wallowing in the self induced sting of the minutes before; pain in her body gave her something to feel other than responsibility. It helped her feel weak for once.
The boy long asleep, dreaming of her – longing for her soft embrace and false reassurance; blissfully unaware of the glass case he kept her in. cracked enough to scrape her surface yet clear enough for him to admire her exterior beauty.