Squipped | Be More Chill

35 Signs You're in a Toxic Relationship

Sean

Why did you mention Jenna's status to her? If you're going to do this right, it needs to be believed that you're interested in her. 

It's long since I told Christine about my feelings for Jenna, but it's still coming back to my brain. 

Well, that part's the fault of my Squip. 

I've been involuntarily slipping up a lot, for which it's constantly giving me a hard time. What can I say? I guess I just wasn't made for this. But I don't want to give it up (moreover, I don't know how to). I'm simply desperate. 

"Look, I think Jenna's into me by now. It's not a big deal." 

That's good. I keep telling you, I only want to help. 

"You could do that without degrading me?" I suggest. 

Sean, think of yourself before I came. You deserved to be degraded. Your goal was to be liked, right? That'd never happen without my help. Jenna is just a stepping stone, you know. Now, you need to ask her out. 

"What?!" 

She doesn't seem like she's going to do it herself. But I guarantee that she'll be interested if you make the first move. 

"How do you know that?" I sigh. "Maybe she needs a Squip." 

That's actually a great idea, the Squip decides, maybe a little cunningly. We just need to convince her to take it, without... being too obvious. Jenna specifically is a risky target. 

"What are you talking about?" 

You know I know everything, right? 

And according to a little background check, she's had a Squip before. 

"What?!" 

Brooke

Ah, a nice day home alone. To maintain a healthy relationship, Chloe and I have been trying to spend the occasional time apart, so that's what we're doing right now. She's out with her work friends, and I'm here. 

To change the subject, I absolutely love reading my suggested articles on Google Chrome. I've trained them to pop up based on whatever I'm into at the moment by, prior to each little exploration, manually searching other articles on the same topics. 

But there's always the odd article that's only suggested for reach or something. This time, it's 35 Signs You're in a Toxic Relationship. 

What even defines a "toxic relationship", anyway? I wonder. It's embarrassing to admit, but sometimes I worry my relationship with Chloe isn't the best. Especially when people say they wish they had one like ours. A part of me insists, you don't. 

And it wouldn't hurt to just check out the article... right? Just to skim through it. 

2. Feeling drained. 

Whoa, strong almost-start there. I do feel drained. But I don't think it has anything to do with Chloe. 

6. Constant judgment. 

To attack myself here, I guess I do judge her sometimes. Like, it's not like she ended up actually sleeping with Jeremy at the party. 

No, no, Brooke. Sexual assault is more serious than you're making it out to be. I have a right not to trust Chloe, don't I? 

14. Ceaseless control issues. 

Oh my God, how many times have we argued about control? This isn't looking good. 

19. Vibes of entrapment.

I mean, I don't feel trapped per se, but Chloe and I have a history together. And I know how upset she'd be if I ended things. Even as girlfriends, we're still best friends, and I would never want to hurt her that way. So I don't really have a choice, do I? 

24. Shortage of autonomy. 

I'm not too clear on what they mean by this, but then the description for this says Anyone in any relationship should have the right to say no. 

Oh. I don't have that. 

I decide to just finish up with this shit, since it's making me feel even worse about my relationship than I did before. So I skip to the very last sign. 

35. Cannot do anything right. 

Okay, I have no clear idea of what this means. But looking back on the relationship, nothing has necessarily gone right. I thought we would grow as we went along, but it's been more than eight months, and there seems to have been no growth. 

Oh, my God. Are Chloe and I toxic? 

I quickly look up signs you're a toxic partner. Let's focus on myself first. That part I can change. I look through a few, but they don't seem to describe me. Tend to manipulate things, a little too dominating, never take responsibility. 

They kind of sound like Chloe. 

But come on, Brooke. You're blowing this out of proportion. You and Chloe love each other. Maybe you just need some time. She's out right now, anyway. 

Gone out with her work friends. Which she never let me do. 

In spite of all my self-reassurances, I have the sinking feeling that things definitely aren't being done right.