Whatever You Do, Don’t Get My Hopes Up
Don't meet my family. Don't meet my relatives. Don't hold my hand in public and kiss me on the tip of my nose. Don't give me bear hugs. Don't call me yours. If you don't really want me.
Whatever you do, just don’t get my hopes up.
If you like me, tell me the truth and tell me why. Tell me why you like my laugh. Why you like my smile. Why you like the way I talk too much. The way I nervously bite my nails and stutter over anxious words. Tell me all the reasons why.
And mean it.
If you love me, tell me the truth and tell me why. And don’t just tell me. Show me. Show me why you love me. Show me in the way you speak to me. In the way you listen to me. And in the way you adore me. Show me you love me and don’t you dare pretend.
Show me. And mean it.
Whatever you do, don’t pretend.
Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not, if you are going to leave. Don’t pretend you want forever with me, if you are going to end up closing the door on me. Don’t pretend you like me, adore me, love me – if all you are going to do is shatter my heart.
Don’t be with me just to be with me. Be with me because you can’t imagine a world without me. Be with me because you don’t remember smiling as hard as you do, when you’re with me. Be with me because you picture a future. Because you want me for me.
Don’t get all of my hopes up. Because once they are up, they won’t stop lifting. So, please, tell me the truth. Don’t sugarcoat anything. Don’t make me believe things that are lies. Don’t make me hope. Hope for a forever, if it’s not what you want.
I don’t care if you hurt me, as long as you are being honest. I don’t care if you tell me it isn’t going to work out, as long as it’s the truth.
Just don’t get my hopes up before I fall. Don’t gloss over the real picture. Don’t paint over the ugly collage. Don’t pretend to be my lover, when you don’t care about me.
Don’t meet my family. Don’t meet my relatives. Don’t hold my hand in public and kiss me on the tip of my nose. Don’t give me bear hugs. Don’t call me yours. If you don’t really want me.
Please.
Don’t even bother if all you are going to do is play pretend. Don’t do anything, if all you are going to do is play an actor in my blockbuster movie. Just don’t. Because if you do, my heart just might break all over again.
And I don’t know if I can survive that. 
