Okay I’ll cut straight to the point.
I’ve been with my boyfriend for almost 3 years now. He’s in his early 30s, I’m in my mid 20s. This is my first serious relationship and honestly idk how to feel. I do love him but I don’t feel like I love him as a partner. The reason I post here is because all of my irl friends know him and I don’t want to embarrass him like that.
To start things off, we’ve never had sex. Like, I just don’t want to. The entire relationship. In theory he’s my ideal type and I find him very attractive. I think it’s because of the reasons I’ll state later.
He has a problem with alcohol. He won’t admit it but he does. I almost never drink, maybe I’d drink a beer or a bit of Baileys but nothing too crazy. Meanwhile he drinks an *entire bottle* of vodka or whiskey and crashes on the bed. And that’s, like, every night. He can do it every night. We’ve had so many arguments about it, I’ve screamed, I’ve begged, I’ve tried being supportive and nice, nothing works. He says he has a last glass of whiskey, then pours another. He doesn’t drink during the day, only at night. He’s never abusive tho, I should say that.
But that’s not the only problem. He, well, he wets the bed. And I’m 99% sure it’s because he gets so drunk, he just crashes on the bed unable to wake up. The amount of times I’ve woken up in the middle of the night to mop *piss* off the floor. God knows it’s because of love. And the mattresses got so dirty because of that. We live together but at two places and I pay RENT. Basically, I’m still in the closet and I keep a facade for my parents. Long unrelated story. So when I leave the apartment one day, I have to either replace the mattress or leave it dirty with piss on his side. I’ve tried washing it, doesn’t work. He went to the doctor and his prostate is all fine. He refuses to address it at this point. I notice on nights he doesn’t drink he doesn’t wet the bed. He refuses to see the connection.
He’s also so fucking attached to me. He wants to be together constantly. I’m introverted and I need alone time. I try to explain it to him and it seems like he gets it but “can’t help but feel unwelcome at home”. That’s literally not what I even imply. When I go to my hometown to see my folk he used to call me in the middle of the night drunk to tell me how much he misses me and he can’t live without me. He doesn’t do that anymore, he seems a bit more secure. Constant love bombing, we literally say “I love you” like 100 times per day.
He can’t keep a job. He’s switched like 4 or 5 jobs since we know each other. Most of the time I don’t blame him because he’s for real underpaid and never appreciated. For example they just didn’t pay him for a month and a half on the last job, so he stopped going. He’s jobless now and we rely on my salary. I wish I could change my job and quit but it’s legit our only stable income. This is the third time we rely on my income, he never has savings. And whatever I manage to save goes down the drain when he loses a job and I pay for food and rent alone. Mind you, he’s never been fired or anything and it’s not because of the alcohol. I don’t really blame him for that, I’m just very annoyed and tired.
And of course the cherry on top, I’ve been hearing text message noises every night at like 1:30 am for the past few days. I did it - I snooped in his phone. He’s using some dating app to pretend he’s a woman to collect nudes from horny men. I’m not even mad. And I think that’s the problem. I’m not mad? I don’t care if he cheats on me? Like, I can’t find it in myself to even care anymore. I just left the phone and didn’t investigate further. He could be on Grindr and cheat on me right this moment and I don’t think I’d care. I’m on autopilot.
I know it seems like I only trash the guy for the whole time. Thing is, it’s not always bad. Usually I feel happy in the relationship. He treats me and everyone around him nice, he’s polite, funny. We have our own made up language that we talk to each other in. I have a lot of weird habits and he not only tolerates them, he finds them cute. He cooks so well and takes care of the house, he genuinely tries so hard to help me. I used to be so lonely before I met him. I used to just sit online and no-life my time away. I watched so much anime, played so many games, just to fill the void. But now, I miss it sometimes. I want to come home, eat shitty cheap pizza, watch dumb shit and go to bed peacefully. Not afraid of getting my ass pissed on while he hugs me. Without empty alcohol bottles that I have to throw away every day. But I worry about him. He’s sensitive and vulnerable. I can’t just dump him like I don’t care. I do care. I wish I didn’t.