So my boyfriend and I were long distance. We’ve been together for a year and a half now and I found out I was pregnant and just recently moved to him to close the gap. But as a result of our situation I haven’t spent a lot of time with him and his friends together until now. Many of my trips prior to see him involved hanging out with other people albeit very minimally because as long distance we wanted to spend most of our time alone together to get that couple time we never got.

I love him a lot. He’s very affectionate when we’re alone. But I’ve found that when we’re with anyone else, it’s almost like any sort of semblance that we’re dating goes out of the window. He won’t touch me. And I understand – being touchy feely around friends is gross and we should keep it to a minimum. But we can be out for hours and hours, and I won’t get a single glance or brush against or squeeze or anything. I’ll initiate, maybe rub his arm for a second or a quick peck or.. something? Not excessive but very brief, and he’ll either ignore it or move away from it, which hurts. But the second his friends leave, he’s touchy feely again. Nice, but, he really can’t even give my leg a squeeze or something while we’re out?

And there’s been this issue with the language barrier. I can struggle a bit with some social anxiety and being shy. Luckily, many of his friends and family speak conversational English at the very least. But I’ve recently found that he’s not very good at including me. He himself is a very fluent English speaker and you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference honestly. But for some reason when we’re with his friends, I’ve found that the sequence of events goes somewhat like:
His friend will ask me a question in English. I’ll reply in english. He’ll add something in like crack a joke in his native language, or add to what I’m saying, but in his native language. To which his friend will then reply in the native language, and then I’m stuck in this foreign conversation and have to wait until they’re done, or I initiate something in English, or someone else does. And no, I’m not against him speaking his native tongue. But I find it to be a bit excessive when it comes to a point where he literally doesn’t reply to anything his friends say in English. Like why exclude me like that?
We had an issue when we were with his family last time who doesn’t speak really any English and he didn’t translate at all. He told me when we talked about it that I should insert myself more if I wanted to feel included. Fine. But I feel him just refusing to speak any English at all really discourages my ability to partake especially when his friends speak good English and don’t have a problem understanding.

I understand the answer to this is: learn the language. And I’m trying, I’ve got my duolingo lessons and i study every night and what not. But in the meantime , no, im not exactly what you would call fluent.

As stated before, I’m pregnant and I can definitely be overly sensitive because of it. So I’m really not sure what about this is me, and what about this is him. But ultimately I feel he’s just terrible with including me in things which hurts my feelings, but I also don’t feel like I know what’s a reasonable expectation or not. I’d really appreciate some input on it.

TLDR: boyfriend doesn’t touch me or help to include me in conversations when we’re with his friends

3 comments
  1. If you haven’t already, you need to tell him that it bothers you because you feel left out. If he laughs it off or says you’re overreacting, that selfish, disrespectful douche bag isn’t worth your time.

    If it bothers you, it should bother him that you’re bothered by it.

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