You call yourselves “just friends,” but you know as well as everyone else does that you’re more than that. You know where he is when he’s not with you. You spend your weekends together. You travel together. You go to Ikea together. You say “we” a lot, and all of your other friends know who “we” is.
You are dating without benefits. You are serving all of the functions of life partner for each other, without, you know, any of the good stuff — romance, commitment, and sex. (Though any of these elements might sneak in and out of the relationship on occasion, usually aided by alcohol.) You are a substitute boyfriend or girlfriend, and this, my friend, could drag on for years, especially if neither of you meets someone else — someone you can call your actual boyfriend or girlfriend. This is not great news.
Related: The 5 Signs You’re A Filler Girlfriend
Here, a few other things I wish I’d known before getting entangled in this messy kind of coupling:
1. Everyone will ask if you’re a couple, why you’re not a couple, and when you’re going to be a couple.
Seriously, everyone. All of your friends, his friends, bartenders, the lady at the spa who assumes you want a couples massage. (Yep, we once got a couples massage without knowing that was what we were about to get, and didn’t realize it until we were both naked under sheets on adjoining—though at least still separate—massage tables.) This grilling will not end until you either become a couple or stop hanging out so damn much, so figure out a clever go-to answer. I never did, so let me know if you think of a good one.
Related: 4 Random Signs He’s Into You
2. You know how there’s stuff you’ll do only for your longtime mate, like read the first draft of his novel or check on her when she’s sick or help him choose what to have for dinner every night? You will find yourself doing those things for this person.
I mean, this is the good news/bad news part, right? It’s awesome when you have someone to go get you more NyQuil when you’re immobilized by a cold. It’s irritating when you find yourself planning out his menu for the next week when instead you should be tending to your online dating profile to find a real boyfriend.
3. Speaking of which, you will likely miss out on chances to meet prospects for real dating.
When you look like you’re always out on a date, chances are few people are going to approach you — except really gross people who don’t mind stealing other people’s dates. This explains a ton about certain periods in my dating life.
4. You may at times think you’re in love with this person — and you may very well be — but there is something keeping you apart.
If you’re spending this much time together without being romantically involved, the cold truth is that something is awry. Somebody’s not feeling it, or somebody has major emotional blockages to deeper commitment, or both. That might be okay with you for now — I personally was getting over a broken engagement, so it worked nicely for a while — but you can’t spend a lot of energy thinking someday things will change. You never know what craziness is in store for affairs of the heart, but betting folks would put their money against this one.
Related: 50 Ways To Tell Someone You Like Them (Without Just Telling Them)
5. You will have to break up eventually.
You may or may not end up having an actual breakup-ish talk, but a moment will come in which you realize things have changed. One of you may express feelings that the other can’t reciprocate. One of you may demand more than the other is willing to give. (“No, I will not fold your laundry. And furthermore, I don’t want to read your new novel, either.”) Very likely, one of you will get a real-life mate and be forced to renegotiate the terms of the friendship. When I met my boyfriend, I saw instantly that spending my Saturday at Ikea with my boyfriend-without-benefits would be weird. It would feel like cheating, in a way. The mysteries of human relationships are winding and vast, like the aisles of a certain Swedish furnishings superstore, but we know when something is just wrong.
6. You will miss him or her.
I know things can’t be the same between us ever again, and I don’t really want them to be. I like having a guy who reads my manuscripts and goes to Ikea with me and also sleeps with me and calls me his girlfriend and wants to plan a life together. But sometimes when I pass through the neighborhood where my substitute boyfriend and I used to drink too much white wine together and go to bad romantic comedies together and get weird couples massages, I get a little wistful. And even though we’re still friends, what I can’t bring myself to ask him is: How do you know what to eat for dinner without me?
This piece was originally published on How About We’s blog The Date Report.