We.

I could feel his hesitancy as we walked.
It was as if we were dancing around a ticking time bomb.
 
           "Have you ever been in love?" he asked me.

It was such a simple yet complicated question.
To be in love and to love someone are completely different.
I have no doubt I have loved many.
To love someone is to take a third party perspective,
observing, learning, and enjoying how they interact with life.
You love watching them love and break when they are broken.
But you are still afraid to be thrown into the vortex of love with them,
fearing for your life rather than the other person's.
To love someone is to be afraid of commitment, benefits without love.
To be in love with someone you are sucked into the cyclone of life,
instead of fearing for your sanity you war for that person's protection.
Your love is not requited with you are with them.
To be in love is to give and take.
To be in love with someone you are convinced life without them would be
horrifically dull.
To be in love is to admit you love them a bit more than you love yourself.

   All these thoughts jumped through my mind.
 Then I looked back at my life.
  All the adventure, heartbreak, and wisdom I had encountered over the years
  and was surprised at my own answer to his question.
            "I have not..."

                                      And with that, we kept walking.