caligirl03
Silver Member
My combat PTSD sufferer and I broke up a couple months ago after a 3.5 year relationship and went NC for a full month before he finally broke the silence and reached out. Prior to ever dating, we were good friends for 15 years who grew up together. Since his first communication, we've been very minimally texting solely surface level things consisting of jokes, YouTube videos, etc. with several days of radio silence in between. With the exception of the first text, I initiated each time. And while he always replied promptly and positively, I did notice it was always me reaching out and so decided to back off.
However, over the weekend, he randomly texted to say he'd been thinking of me that day and hoped I was well. I responded with "you too" and a heart, attempting to let him know I still care and am here for him yet simultaneously not wanting to open up an entire conversation either. That same night, he asked if I wanted to grab dinner. It was last minute so I couldn't go but did say that I'd be open to it sometime in the future.
Then yesterday I *almost* fell prey to a very convincing tax scam (awful, yet a whole different story) and sent out a message to my friends warning them about it, including my ex. A few hours later he called me (!) ostensibly to ask more about it while also poking fun at me for being so gullible. We spoke for the first time in months, and he caught me up on what he's been up to, including getting a job, which traditionally works wonders for his self-esteem. He's also going to be running a mini marathon in a couple weekends and asked if I'd like to join (hard pass!). He told me he feels like he's in a much better place than he was a few months ago, or even a few weeks ago, and I definitely got that sense even just by the tone of his voice.
Anyway, I kept the convo intentionally "brief" (half an hour) before saying I had to go. He finished by thanking me for letting him know about the scam and said "good looking out bro". I think he also called me "man" at some point. I get that we've been friends forever, and some of this is simply a symptom of being products of our environment (California vernacular), but he seemed to be doing it intentionally. We had a long and intense romantic history a matter of months ago. Should I believe based on everything that he's truly only interested in friendship and nothing more, or could he possibly by trying to keep his defenses up while attempting to get his life in order?
However, over the weekend, he randomly texted to say he'd been thinking of me that day and hoped I was well. I responded with "you too" and a heart, attempting to let him know I still care and am here for him yet simultaneously not wanting to open up an entire conversation either. That same night, he asked if I wanted to grab dinner. It was last minute so I couldn't go but did say that I'd be open to it sometime in the future.
Then yesterday I *almost* fell prey to a very convincing tax scam (awful, yet a whole different story) and sent out a message to my friends warning them about it, including my ex. A few hours later he called me (!) ostensibly to ask more about it while also poking fun at me for being so gullible. We spoke for the first time in months, and he caught me up on what he's been up to, including getting a job, which traditionally works wonders for his self-esteem. He's also going to be running a mini marathon in a couple weekends and asked if I'd like to join (hard pass!). He told me he feels like he's in a much better place than he was a few months ago, or even a few weeks ago, and I definitely got that sense even just by the tone of his voice.
Anyway, I kept the convo intentionally "brief" (half an hour) before saying I had to go. He finished by thanking me for letting him know about the scam and said "good looking out bro". I think he also called me "man" at some point. I get that we've been friends forever, and some of this is simply a symptom of being products of our environment (California vernacular), but he seemed to be doing it intentionally. We had a long and intense romantic history a matter of months ago. Should I believe based on everything that he's truly only interested in friendship and nothing more, or could he possibly by trying to keep his defenses up while attempting to get his life in order?
