Something my soon-to-be-ex-roommate Nita used to say after hanging up with the woman she described as her pseudo-girlfriend. (See friends with perks.)
It bred into me a neurotic fear of telling people I love them. Especially people who don't love me.
It's not that I have to hear it back; it's that some people are so cold that if they can't, in fact, reciprocate, they act as if they are being manipulated or put on the spot.
Then I realized the key was to not fall in love with people like Nita.
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