Counting weak-ass variations such as, “I think I’m falling in love with you,” I have heard an initial “I love you” six times.
One was an Obvious Lie. I would call it an attempt to get into my pants, but really this man simply wanted to get into “pants.” My own personal pants had no special appeal over any others.
Another similar pronouncement was just a confusion between Lust vs Love. At least he dated me for a few months before he winged it out there.
One was Too Long Delayed, a confession decades after the fact. Another was Sincere, then another emerged to Compete with the sincere one. And of course, there was the Closer, the one from Gary himself.
I was not prepared for any of them. I obviously waved off the Obvious Lie. I flat-out argued with Too L0ng Delayed. I was equally confused by Lust vs Love.
As for the others, I’m not the one who says it first, I’m the one who wastes time fighting it. They deserved better than the responses they got. And those responses were better than what Gary got: months of watching me argue with myself. That means I didn’t immediately respond in kind to Gary’s pronouncement, and that makes me a little sad.
I mean, I’ve made up for it in the past forty-plus years, but still.