Your forever person wouldn’t wait an hour to text you back in order to look like he’s the one who cares less. He wouldn’t purposely avoid talking to you and update his snap story instead. He wouldn’t want to keep you waiting.

Your forever person would text you as soon as he got a free minute to check his phone, because he would want to continue the conversation with you. He would want to see your name on his screen again. He would want to hear what you have to say.

Your forever person would rather talk to you than keep you waiting in order to hold some sort of sick power over you. He wouldn’t want you to overanalyze why it’s taking so long for him to answer. He wouldn’t want you to start second guessing yourself. He wouldn’t want to cause you any extra stress, because his only goal would be to bring you happiness.

Your forever person would take your feelings into consideration before taking action. He would actually care about how the little things he said and did impacted you.

Your forever person would never send you mixed signals by acting like he’s interested one day and then avoiding you the next day. He would never swing back and forth like that because it’s unfair to you. It’s inconsiderate.

Your forever person would make honesty his priority. He would tell you how he feels about you, even at the risk of being rejected. He would let you see the most authentic side of him.

Your forever person wouldn’t keep your relationship a secret, either. He wouldn’t hide you away in his apartment and keep his status set to private so that no one knew about how close you two have become. He wouldn’t be embarrassed to be seen with you, he wouldn’t be worried about chasing away other girls by committing to one in particular.

Your forever person would hold your hand in the movie theater and invite you over for dinner with his parents. Your forever person would be proud to show the world how lucky he got when he found you.

Your forever person would never let you stay an almost. He would never string you along with false promises. He would never get close to you and then yank himself away because he’s not ready for a relationship.

Your forever person wouldn’t hesitate to turn your relationship into something official. He would ask you to be his girlfriend and pledge his loyalty. He would make sure that you knew how much you meant to him.

Your forever person would never play any dating games with you — because all of those games are a waste. They take away precious hours that you could be spending together. Not to mention, they cause you pain, and the last thing your forever person would ever want is to be the source of your struggles.

Your forever person would never play hard to get, he would never neglect you, he would never pretend like he doesn’t care about you — because he would want the world to know that you’re a team.

Holly Riordan is the author of Lifeless Souls, available here.