Amor Platonico

Recently, a friend text me, "you and __ have been roommates for a long time. have any of your past relationships ever been insecure or question that relationship?" I get this question in various forms all the time so I thought that I would address it.

First of all, I should clarify a few things. Yes, he is a heterosexual male and I am a bisexual female. We've known each other for about eight years. We met while working together, got along right away and have been friends ever since. We've lived together for about three years now and No, nothing has ever happened between us romantically. I sleep in my room and he sleeps in his room except for nights when I fall asleep on the couch or when one of us doesn't come home.

I think that we've been able to live together this long because we have more than a few things in common. We hate being cold so the air conditioner stays off for most of the Summer and we keep it at about 80 degrees during the Winter. We're both a little messy and we're both night owls. We're both very social and like to go out and have fun. I cook and he eats...and he does the dishes which I appreciate because I hate doing them. I'm a little bit of a princess in that I've probably taken out the garbage all of 5 times since I started living here and I'm really only responsible for my room . But, trust me, he eats very well.

We're roommates and as such we give each other fashion tips before heading out for the evening, have late night chats about dating, mating and relating and vent to each other about work and family annoyances.

I answered my friend's question by simply stating that it may have been an issue initially but if that person was around us long enough to see how we are with one another, then they'd realize that we're really nothing more than very good friends.

In truth, I think that it has been more of an issue for him to have me here and have to explain why and how he lives with an attractive, young woman than for me to explain why and how I live with an attractive, young man. On occasion, I've come home to find my bedroom door closed; a dead giveaway that he's had "new" company--a girl that doesn't yet know about me. However, he's never once complained or asked me to leave. In a way, having me here helps him weed out the insecure ones and his presence does the same to help me.

In conclusion, I can't say that platonic relationships work for everyone but ours works for us. He really is the little, older brother that I never really wanted. We have our moments when we disagree but for the most part things work out just fine.