“I’m studying abroad right now. I have a bit of a ‘boyfriend thing’ going on back home. He’s a nice guy. We met at a party and twenty minutes later he held my hair while I vomited. Even though I wasn’t very attracted to him, he intrigued me. I’d never met a boy who didn’t just care about sex. I’d only dated football players and gross teenage boys. He was different. He genuinely cares about people. He’d bring me all kinds of presents. One time I had a bad week at school and he brought me a gift package with all my favorite things. It was nice to have that much attention. I did just enough of the girlfriend thing to keep him around. Nothing he did affected me, and everything I did affected him. It was a weird sense of power to be the one with less feelings. I’d always been in the opposite position. Even after we broke up, I still hung out with him and let him give me gifts. He even gave me this journal for my trip.”
