Dating isn’t easy. It’s two people searching for connection and compatibility. It’s never perfect so you’ve got to decide where you’re willing to make compromises. For me, the compromise was dating someone who refused say we were dating. The label was a hang up for him. In hindsight, I see how foolish I was for thinking it was as simple as that. He wanted to have a +1 for weddings without having to adjust his actions to account for my feelings. He was selfish and I was too afraid of losing him to stand up for myself. I should have seen that one day I would be begging through tears for an explanation; why was I being treated the way I’d allowed myself to be treated? But when things are going well you want to believe that everything is as nice as it feels. There are moments of beauty and joy that help you gloss over the future painful parts. When you look at someone through rose-colored glasses, all the red flags just look like flags.