Don't lead him on

You know you can.
You know very well you can.

But you know that you shouldn't.

I know you've been here before.
I know you can twirl him around your fingers,
and make him fall on his knees.

You don't need to prove it.

I know you can pull his strings
and make him go crazy over your calculated smiles,
flattering attention, and effortless efforts.

I know you can bring out something in him he doesn't know he has,
like the ability to pursue, the capability to think over and over you,
simply, to love.

He will look forward to seeing you to the point that he becomes
saddened by your absence when you used to be just one person.
He will walk you home, make it a point to always sit beside you.
He will pour out his heart in a text message, he will want to stalk you.
He will talk about you with his guy friends, and he will miss you when you're gone.
He will think about you in the most mundane songs, in cliche quotes,
and in predictable plots from movies and books.

You will be his first love. The first beautiful girl who actually took the time
and paid attention to his weirdness and isolation.
Yet you know in your heart that he is not the one.
That although you feel butterflies in your stomach,
a rotten feeling is there knowing that it is your hungry ego going for the kill
He is a friend. He is your friend. And yet how could you draw him into
a trap with no escape except through a heartache that he doesn't deserve?

You said you like good guys, but that's only because they won't fight back.
The will accept loss and they will not hold you accountable.
They will give you the ball and let you do the playing, and they will not cheat
because they actually have pure hearts who can and want to actually love.
They will not hate you or think that you are a jerk
and yet they would still nurture that feeling of love...
that you used to feel for someone else until he used it to his own advantage.

Do not feed into the temptation of leading him on.
Deep down, you know that he is a good guy, and he deserves a better girl.
A girl who will shower him with love not because of what he could give her
but because she really loves him, flaws and all.
He does not deserve to love a girl whose only concern
are the butterflies, the attention, and the concern.
And that's not you, as of the moment.

No, he is a good guy. He makes a good boyfriend. But please, he is your friend.
Don't do this to him. Don't destroy his faith in women.
Don't let him be like you, who felt broken and shattered.
The world has had enough of brokenness and shattering.
Be a good friend this time, even if it meant not befriending him too much.