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Bedroom General Looming Danger
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Looming Danger
I have an issue. It's about a girl. Said girl went to high school with me. We had a thing. I was older than said girl. We were both quite into each other in high school. High School ranges from ages 14-18. I am older than that now and enrolled in college. When I left for college I left the girl on fine terms. No long distance relationship and no hurt feelings.

It's now two years later and I am a Junior fully engrossed in college and a life that I never expected for myself when I left high school. It turns out that said girl now goes not to my school, but to a school very nearby. Last year she came to visit the area to get used to it before she came up. I told her then that things wouldn't be like they were before. I wasn't interested in an exclusive relationship and she shouldn't count on it. To be honest, it has a lot do with our ages. Though she is only two years younger than me and though it was fine in high school, I feel that the two years more experience I have in the post-high school world has widened the gap of maturity to much more noticeable degrees.

By and By school started a couple weeks ago and we've been seeing a lot of each other, intimately. In the first week she came down to see me almost every day and I let it happen though I sensed the looming danger. The danger is now beyond looming and is now at brinking, code Red if you will. The danger as I see it is she won't embrace her independence and all that college has to offer if she continually comes to me for companionship and entrance into the city. More than that though is that I don't love her. I really like her, but our feelings for each other are not equally mutual. She likes me more than I do her. If she were to mature than those feelings might change, but as it stands I sense too much of a chasm between our levels of experience for us to really be compattable.

How do I do this?  I want to spend time with her, but am I doing her a disservice by not letting her explore her independence? I know that we can't date if she is to mature and really meet her potential. I also know that if I tell her we can't date now that we will never be able to again. Help?

 
Hi Robin,
Do you think she chose her school to be close to you? That could mean quite a strong tie she feels towards you.

Women would probably be better able to answer you than men.
You seem a quite straight forward person, so my guess is that you are going to tell her pretty much what you are saying here at the end. I think I would tell her rather than write anything as writing might hit her stronger and she will remember it more. On the other hand you will have proof of what you said when in a bit she will remember very different things.

One thing I would caution you about is that you want her to mature but not necessarily date a lot. There are many ways to mature. (I don't mean you are against her dating, only that is not what you mean by maturity). You should make that clear. You don't want her to feel like she has to date others in order to please you.

I would also suggest exploring a bit further your feelings about it before approaching her. You won't change your mind but I'm not sure you really understand your feelings towards her and what do you want to happen, and why. Perhaps you're just censoring things for us (which is very understandable).
Just a response to the last point, if you don't date now you never will again: I'm not sure that's true. Women are well aware that people want things from them, and a little speech to the effect "if we date now, you will be choosing me because it is familiar, and though I don't want to say I wouldn't like it, it would very clearly mean that you would miss out on a lot of the stuff that happens in the first year of college -- meeting totally new people, learning to be on your own in an alien environment, making your own decisions from scratch, etc. If you let me be that crutch for you I know in my gut you will never forgive me, and I don't want to do it. I'm torn because I think you're amazing, but if we're made for each other we can figure that out next summer" could go a long way. And then just quietly stick to your guns. You know her well enough by now, I assume, to say this in a way that she will be impressed and flattered (after all, it *is* impressive and flattering) rather than just bursting into tears and claiming you never loved her. The reaction depends on the sincerity of the delivery. And to be honest a few more clandestine dates never hurt anyone provided that the ultimatum is still in place. If anything it will allow you both to enjoy the various thrills of transgression and decadence.

When in a difficult situation involving another person, a reasonable general strategy is often to articulate your worries in a convincing enough way that the other person has fair warning to act on them. Let her bear some of the weight of the decision -- you don't need to keep your angst entirely to yourself -- after all, she probably senses some of your ambiguity.
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Latest Post: September 11, 2009 at 12:40 PM
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