I Just Need You To Stay
By Aly McHenry
You won’t be perfect, and I won’t be either.
We’ll fight. We’ll yell. We’ll scream. We’ll say things we don’t mean and we’ll both make mistakes. We won’t always be happy with ourselves or with each other. We’ll have doubts and fears and at times, we’ll be hard to love.
We won’t always be the same, because people change. It won’t always be easy and that’s okay. Because I don’t need it to be. I just need you to stay.
I need you to stay even when it’s hard. I need you stay through every tragedy we may face and I need us to face that tragedy together. Then I need us to kick that tragedies ass for each other, because I want us to love each other as partners who take on the world together.
I need you to stay even when it feels like I’m pushing you away, because I promise you it isn’t because I don’t love you. It’s because I’m terrified and even though I wish I could be, I can’t always be brave. But I promise you, I won’t always expect you to be brave either. I’ll give you back what you’ve given to me because I can’t promise you everything, but I can promise you, that with me, you will never be alone.
I need you to stay even when you want to leave. Especially then. Because that’s when I need you the most, because staying when it’s hard is what will make this real. It’s what we’ll make us strong together even when we feel weak on our own.
I need you to stay, but I don’t need you to hold back your words or to always force a happy face. I’m not fragile, and I can handle you at your worst. I want to know you at your worst, because I want to know every part of you. Because even if I don’t like every part of you, I will love you wholeheartedly.
I need you stay, but I don’t need you to be strong all the time. I don’t even want you to be. Because nobody is and I want us to be real. I want you to break down right in front of me, not because I want to see you broken but because I want you to know that sometimes, it’s okay to break. Especially because you have me, and I will always be there to put you back together.
So stay. Fall apart if you need to. Scream. Fight. Yell. Lose your shit and break down. But stay because we are real, and stay because we are worth it. And I promise, I’ll stay too.