to the cinema and I'd think we were there to watch a movie and they thought we were there to cuddle and kiss. I hated every moment of it, but I thought everyone hated it and forced themselves. When I talked to my family and they explained that most people enjoy that kind of thing, I decided that I must be really strange. I was very confused until I was 18, when I had a conversation with a friend who asked if I might be asexual. I looked it up and felt it fitted. If I hadn't discovered the asexual community I would have continued to think something was wrong with me and could have fallen into a relationship I didn't want to be in -- I think that has happened a lot to other, especially older, people. We tend to use terms like 'a-romantic', 'bi-romantic' and 'hetero-romantic'. Someone like me who's a-romantic will generally have no desire for a romantic relationship (or a physical relationship, at least). Someone who's bi-romantic is interested in romantic relationships but has no preference as to gender. Homo-romantic and hetero-romantic work like homosexual or heterosexual but without the sexual attraction element. I was in a relationship briefly with a man who is also asexual, but there was nothing in it that I couldn't get from friends. We spent most evenings together, going for walks, going out to dinner, playing games or watching TV, during which we would hold hands or cuddle on the sofa.