7 Signs You And Your Boyfriend Should Just Be Friends
You guys work well together, just not as a couple.
Prostock-studio/ Shutterstock Sometimes the line between like and love can be hard to distinguish.
We've all been in that one relationship with a guy where all the pieces fit together perfectly.
He was charming and smart and funny and sweet and you get along like gangbusters.
But in spite of all of this, there was a little voice in your head wondering...
"Would we be better off just as friends?"
Let's get one thing straight right now:
There is nothing WRONG with friendship.
Friendship is dope as hell and really rewarding for the people in it.
Granted, you don't tend to have sex with your friends, but sex is not everything.
So, the big question is:
How can you tell if he's a perfect boyfriend or better off as your bud?
There are lots of different signs, but I've pulled together the big ones to help you out.
Here are 7 signs you and your boyfriend should just be friends:
1. You're not having sex
Sure, every romantic relationship has its dry spell.
But usually, the people in it work hard to get OUT of it.
You know, with role-playing and what have you.
Spice, as it were.
If you and your boyfriend aren't having sex and you're totally fine with that, evaluate those feelings.
Maybe your relationship is a friendship and not a romantic relationship after all.
2. You fart with proud abandon
I fart in front of my boyfriend, but when it happens, I always say excuse me.
There are things that a body does, you just can't help it.
And when you spend enough time with someone you're going to eventually be present for some of the gross things the body does.
But there's a difference between a casual toot and a lack of makeup and having farting contests with your boyfriend or giving him a Dutch oven.
You aren't treating him like a boyfriend when you do that stuff, you're treating him like a buddy.
3. You can't imagine a future together
You've been dating exclusively for a little while now.
So it's natural for you to stop to think about the future.
Not so natural?
Maybe you just can't picture it. Or you don't like what you see.
You like him a lot, maybe you even love him, but when you think about making a life with him in it you draw a blank.
Maybe that's because he's not supposed to be in that picture as your partner but as a friend.
4. You love him but not that way
When your friends talk about how much they love their boyfriends you get worried.
Sure, you LOVE your boyfriend, but you aren't on cloud nine or anything.
He's a great guy, you take care of each other, you've got a lot of common interests.
But it doesn't seem like the storybook love affair true love is supposed to be.
That's because it isn't ... it's true friendship.
5. You hate living with him
You guys have been living together for a while and...
You can't stand it.
It's not that you each have quirks and need to get used to each other.
It's that you aren't compatible as living partners romantically.
You'd be better off as buddies, hell, even as roommates.
6. You want to open the relationship up
Your relationship is going just okay.
You have sex, and it's also just okay.
You don't want to break up because it feels like there's no real reason to.
But you want to open up the relationship so that you can meet new people.
Boredom and dissatisfaction in your relationship is not a sign you should open things up.
It's a sign you're dating a friend and not a lover.
7. You're tired of people asking if he's your brother
You finish each other's sentences, share each other's clothes, and listen to the same music.
You're so cute it's basically annoying.
Everyone who meets you thinks you're related.
It's a comfortable relationship.
It should be.
Because you're dating yourself.
You need to date someone who challenges you, not someone who keeps you in a bubble.
Burst that romantic relationship and make it the friendship it was born to be.
Rebecca Jane Stokes is an editor, freelance writer, former Senior Staff Writer for YourTango, and the former Senior Editor of Pop Culture at Newsweek. Her bylines have appeared in Fatherly, Gizmodo, Yahoo Life, Jezebel, Apartment Therapy, Bustle, Cosmopolitan, SheKnows, and many others.