Holly Riordan

He’s constantly adding new girls on Facebook and Instagram. You don’t see him commenting on their posts, but that’s because he’s talking to them through private messages. He might’ve even found them through dating sites.

“This guy I used to be sort of friends with in high school decapitated his girlfriend, cut out her uterus, ate the uterus, and wrapped her head in a plastic bag and put it in the lagoon near my house.”

She overthinks, because it’s hard to read boys that refuse to tell her how they feel. She overthinks, because she’s been hurt too many times in the past and isn’t ready for it to happen again.

Sleeping with him. You don’t have to have sex every single time you two hang out. He should be happy to see you and have a face-to-face conversation with you — even if that means he doesn’t get a glimpse of your body.

Have you ever cursed out your parents?

Understand that, no matter how well you treat her, she’s always going to have doubts. They’re never going to go away, because she’s been abandoned so many times. She’s gotten used to not being enough.

She doesn’t hate you. Not at all. She hates the situation. She hates the way things ended. Most of all, she hates that she still cares, even though she swears that she doesn’t.

You’re going to push her away by treating her like crap and expecting her to come back. By putting in zero effort and hoping that she’ll put in one hundred.

Her heart is begging her to take a leap, to send you a simple hello and see where things go from there, but her brain is never going to let that happen. She won’t let herself slip up, won’t give into those moments of weakness when all she wants to do is hear your voice, see your smile.

Would you rather eat the dead flesh of your mother or your father?

Stop wasting time with the guy that doesn’t seem to care whether you stay in his life or not.

She refuses to settle. Refuses to play games. Refuses to give out mixed signals. Refuses to lower her standards, or surrender her dignity, to find a boyfriend.

She pretends that she has it all together emotionally, that she has other things to worry about, that you’re incapable of pulling her heartstrings until they unravel.

“One time I really had a bad feeling about a car and asked my girlfriend to walk faster over the street. She laughed and said I should not worry. The car crashed into the woman next to us.”

Don’t expect her to wait until you’re ready to accept her love. Because, by the time you realize that she deserves to have your heart, her love for you isn’t going to exist anymore. It’s going to be directed at someone else — someone that was ready for her.

You talk about all the things you want to do together (get dinner, see a movie, take a trip to the city), but you never make concrete plans to actually do any of those things.

Don’t fault him for not having a full head of hair. Or for being too broke to fly you to Hawaii. Or for failing to reach your six foot tall height requirement. Judge him on the aspects he can control. On how well he treats you. On how happy he makes you feel.

Offer him a shoulder massage.