I suppose this is a kind of origin story.
I was in my mid-20s and a year into an open relationship with my boyfriend of 6 years. Being open was my idea – I told him from the jump that I wanted to have sex with other people. He asked for time. I was patient until I couldn’t be patient anymore.
Opening a relationship after 5 years of being monogamous is very, very hard. You make every mistake you can think of, and a bunch of ones you can’t. We were still figuring out the rules – do we text if we think we’re about to hook up with someone? Do we need to give each other permission? Are we allowed to fall in love with other people?
One of the first people I dated when we opened our relationship was a local artist. He turned out to be shitty, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy my brief experience being a muse, and I got to attend a bunch of art shows and was exposed to a whole new crowd of people I wouldn’t normally interact with.