Friends with Benefits (FWB)
By Jaz Cashmere

Pretense: Blanket the mess we’ve made Does this soothe you?
Label it with a trendy name
Yet it remains the same:
 Great sex; a connection; a bond Soulmates.
 Bound by rules I don’t want to follow
 But they are safe;
 It’s what is “right” Right?
But I feel around for the barrier and I can’t find it:
 I’m good enough to hang
Good enough to laugh and cry and tease and enjoy
Good enough for “friends”
Good enough for F.U.C.K
But not good enough for Love?

Rest my hand on the rule that says we shouldn’t be
Then make me accept that Friends with Benefits is all we will ever be
Then show me the benefit
Of loving you but not having you
And hiding you so I can’t show you more than the passion between my legs
 Or the closeness of being just friends.

Fear: That’s what makes us all accept
Complacency: That’s what makes us all choose this horrible path;
 This facade that on the surface we laugh
 But hidden by walls and sheets and pretense we are lovers.

 This Platonism, it kills me
The biggest lie I’ve had to tell.
But so many lie and lie again for the safety; the cowardice of it all.
 Don’t give me friends Or give me benefits that deprive me love.
Don’t insult me by thinking sex alone can soothe me.
For when the sweat dries and the pants cease and the passion ends
 The magic acts of Forget and Pretense
 Must haunt me and punish me
 When my biggest sin is that I love You
And cannot have you...
But wait...
I do You’re my Friend
My sweet, sweet friend.

 Silence.
As I stare at you I want to scream at you.
But they will hear;
The world that we hide from will hear
 And they will know.
But so what if they know?
Let them know!
 But they can’t know...
And though I hear a million answers
 I still can’t hear why?
 Why don’t you want me?
Why don’t you love me?
I don’t need friends
I don’t need benefits

 I just need You...