It’s all fun and games until you can’t stop thinking about them.

It’s all fun and games until you feel like you want to text them all the time.

It’s all fun and games until you start missing them and you’re wondering if they miss you too.

It’s all fun and games until you find yourself remembering every little thing they told you.

It’s all fun and games until you want to send them everything that reminds you of them.

It’s all fun and games until you start picturing yourself with them and the thought of it makes you happy.

It’s all fun and games until you fall and you wonder if they feel the same way.

When you’re confused about what to do or how you should feel, when you don’t know if you should talk to them or if they need their space, when you don’t know if they need more time or they need more effort and when you don’t know if you should say too much or say nothing at all.

It’s all fun and games until the thought of them being with someone else terrifies you.

It’s all fun and games until you’re afraid to lose them.

But you don’t know if you have that right, they’re not yours so you can’t lose them, you don’t own them, you don’t have a say in their choices or their decisions — so you can only hope.

It’s all fun and games until you start hoping; hoping for more, hoping for more dates, hoping for more time together, hoping for a stronger bond and hoping for a future together.

It’s all fun and games until you start thinking about your future and they’re suddenly in it.

It’s all fun and games until you fall for them, sooner than you expected, faster than you would’ve liked and deeper than you would’ve thought.

It’s all fun and games until you no longer want to play, because they mean more to you, because now you have something to lose.

It’s all fun and games until you only want their attention, until you only want their love.

It’s all fun and games until you want to win because you can’t afford to lose.

It’s all fun and games until you know that it’s no longer all fun and games.

Rania Naim is a poet and author of the new book All The Words I Should Have Said, available here.