“I know this is not the best moment to discuss this,” I say, as we both lay naked in my bed. “But, is it safe to say we are… ‘seeing’ each other?”
“Yes, I think so,” she says, her light blue eyes gazing into mine.
“So, for example, when I go to the office tomorrow I could say ‘I am seeing somebody’, right?”
“Yeah, sure. Seeing, dating, whatever. If it’s easier for you, you can just say I’m your girlfriend…”
“’Girlfriend’? Ah, shit!” I say, faking concern. She smiles with shyness and turns around, pretending to be embarrassed.

I hold her tight from behind and kiss her cheek. “Girlfriend. Fuck, I don’t like the sound of that,” I think, looking back at my life. That didn’t turn out okay for me before. Nor it did for anyone else involved. Why would it work now?

Here comes a silence. A contemplative one.

“I’m sorry. I am deeply wounded,” I say, finally. As if that would make it all better now.
She turns around, puts her hand on my face and kisses me gently. We lock eyes. “It’s fine. I understand,” she says. And, for a second there, nothing else matters.

I guess she is my girlfriend, after all.