I still don’t know why I said no. I could perfectly well have said yes, and God knows I wanted to stay with him! I had parental permission and could stay for a while yet. But it was as if some outside force took hold of my voice and will. I told him I had to go. He asked me several times, insisting that I’d get wet in the rain outside and he wanted me to stay with him. I stubbornly held to my stupid resolution, bade him goodbye and left. That was over a month ago, but I still feel awful about it. If he asked me now, I wouldn’t bat an eyelash.
An eleven-year-old friend of mine fell in love with him and, her father being a very violent person, we were both afraid and broke off contact with her afterwards. He hadn’t noticed that she liked him, not even when he posted a shirtless photo on WhatsApp and she began to compliment his eyes and his singing voice, to seek me out more than ever as a means of contacting him and to beg me to take him to her house; and sadly I didn’t notice either until my mother noticed and my dad warned us both of what was happening. Beren was so frightened that he began to pack to go back to his hometown, fearing he would be unable to continue sending his uncle money to support his brother; but I helped him to calm down, though (much to my surprise, as I’d been quite sure I didn’t care for him other than as a friend) his pronouncement had put me on the verge of hysteria myself. In a desperate attempt to help him, I gave him the number of my old job, which although not a very safe job (I’d lasted only a few days before being bitten by a pit bull while promoting the Internet service) would provide him at least with the means to feed himself and his brother without going back to the city he’d left in the first place because of the lack of work and because he’d lost the fish store he once owned. Plus, my boss had been very kind and understanding to me, and I knew Beren was an excellent worker; I thought he’d be kind to him as well. Big mistake!
Beren took the job. He was loyal to his boss despite his not wanting to pay him and forcing him to work even during his off hours, taking advantage of his sales skills. I urged him to find something better, but at first he resisted, saying he’d work very hard and rise in position, and that he wouldn’t shame me for recommending him. I told him I didn’t care how I looked before my old boss, but that I was worried for him, especially as he’s not strong and very distracted, and doesn’t fight back if attacked. He’s already been assaulted before, and I told him in no uncertain terms that I was worried for him. I helped him write his CV, as he’d never made one before, and I recommended him at the place where I work; and my father also recommended him at a car rental company, where he might have done very well indeed. He got the job, then went to his hometown the day after the interview to see his sick brother.
That was when something strange began to happen. He left without even telling me until he was on the bus, and he didn’t tell me when he would be back; I got that information from my father. The day after he arrived we talked still, and he told me he wanted to stay. I told him he should look after himself and that I didn’t think it was a good idea, but that it was of course his decision. He told me he wanted to stay but wouldn’t. Then he stopped coming online at all. Calls went straight to voicemail, and I was frantic for him after a week of no contact. I thought something terrible had happened for sure, more so after he didn’t appear on his birthday, when I’d invited him and planned a surprise party for him.
One week later he messaged me from a friend’s phone, without saying who he was. I knew him at once, though, because who else would say to me, “Hello, my beautiful Tinúviel, how is my best friend today?”
I was so relieved that I cried and laughed over my phone at the same time as I replied to him, tumbling over my own letters as I asked him where he’d been, why no contact, etc. He apologized and reiterated that he cared about me, told me he’d just come back for me, to say goodbye before leaving. I didn’t try to persuade him, but I felt lucky that he couldn’t hear me sobbing over my phone like a baby. I asked him if I’d see him again, and he said yes and asked me what day I had off from work (because, according to him, it wouldn’t have been correct for him to ask me at what time I was free. His morality mystifies me sometimes…and that’s even though I myself am of rather strict morals in that regard, at least in comparison to most other people of my age). I told him, and he said he’d come then; he even reiterated his decision to come see me to my mom.
Yesterday was the appointed day, and I waited for him all day long, to no avail. I’m afraid something may have happened to him. My grandma says that he probably wants to back off from me because he thinks I will never love him as more than a friend… and though I didn’t mean for it to happen… I do! I plan to give him the present I’ve been keeping for him, a small fish tank with substrate, a resin decoration and a filter, and to tell him of my feelings for him, if and when I do see him.
I’m not really afraid that he doesn’t like me. The way I see it, he’s given me signals enough. But I don’t want him to think that I’ve been his friend only because I like him. My motives were pure; I wanted to help him, and at first I thought of him as no more than a friend. He knew that I had a crush on someone else, and so he never told me anything openly, though he was always there for me and would do almost anything I asked (though I made it a point never to ask anything of him if I could help it; I like to be independent). But his sweet caring has won my heart, and though I’d normally not speak until he spoke first, if I don’t do it now I may not get another chance. And I know I’ll never find anyone else like him—so like to me, and yet so different.
And there’s also the matter of the right words. I would have written him a letter, but somehow I think it would be better to tell him straight out, even if I die of nervousness, lol. But as I’m sure you can tell from my long wall of text here, I have a very dramatic, over-romantic style, and although he is quite similar to me in this respect I’m sure he’ll run for the hills if I go all Shakespeare on him! I don’t know what to say, or how to say it; and I need to clear up the reason for his lack of contact. I don’t know whether to tell him before, or after clearing everything up. I don’t know whether I should lead up to it, or just blurt it out, plain as plain, “I love you”. Please help! Any advice?
Thank you in advance for any counsel you may offer! I have literally zero experience with men, and I really don’t want to lose Beren. What I feel for him I’ve never felt for anyone else before; it’s not physical attraction, it’s something else entirely…a deep admiration for his strength in the midst of his troubles and his meek and mild personality, his capacity for forgiveness and for helping others when he himself has nothing, his love of all living things…And the way he speaks to and looks at me…it’s not like anyone else. I feel like he cares…
The continuation of my great wall of text :$ it won't let me even make new posts to that same thread.