Verbal Abuse, Humiliation Tactics, and Intimate Partner Violence
Keep It Down
You’re at a dive bar with your boyfriend and his aggressively shitty friends.
It’s their usual, rowdy scene, although it’s never really been yours. You’re an introvert who’s learned to manage in a crowd, but you much prefer a smaller group setting. Honestly, you’re mostly there to appease and babysit a violent alcoholic.
You didn’t really want to go out tonight, just like you haven’t wanted to go out any of the other nights this week, but here you are again. You’re tired of the constant hangover that comes with dating someone whose blood itches in the absence of booze.
Of course, it’s safer if you’re there. That way you can do your best to make sure he doesn’t get in a fight, crash his car drunk, shoot anything, or get arrested, all of which are well-informed concerns. If you hadn’t come, he’d likely have returned home either dangerously angry or not at all.
You push the thought back down, plaster on a smile as he squeezes your thigh a bit too roughly.
Sometimes you think he must not know his own strength, the way even his affection leaves a bruise. Other times, you’re frighteningly certain that he knows exactly how tightly he’s gripping you.
