If your boyfriend has recently gotten out of a long-term relationship, it is perfectly normal for you to wonder whether things are really over between the two of them.
You know that most people take time to get over a relationship and to find someone else and that scares you. You don’t know if your boyfriend has given himself enough time to grieve his past relationship and to process the break-up before he met you.
On the other hand, the relationship between the two of you is going great, so you simply don’t know what to think. Has he really gotten over his past relationship or is he just faking that he’s moved on with his life?
Is he using you to get over her and to make her jealous or is he indeed ready for something serious? These are all the questions that keep going through your head but the answers are nowhere to be found.
So, if you have any doubts about if you serve only as a rebound girl to your boyfriend, here are 3 clear signs that you do.
1. His ex-girlfriend is still a part of his life
It is perfectly normal for an ex-couple to stay in friendly relations and it’s the same with your boyfriend and his ex-girlfriend. The fact that they’ve stayed on good terms doesn’t have to mean anything.
But it’s one thing if they are polite to each other when they accidentally meet and another if they call each other for some reason. If she still has an active role in his life, it is quite likely that things between the two of them are not quite over.
If your boyfriend still hangs out with his ex or with her friends and family on a regular basis, it is possible that he’s still not ready to move on with his life and that he wants to stay in hers, one way or another.
You can’t expect him to pretend like she and everyone around her were never a part of his life but if he acts like the two of them never ended things, it should ring alarm bells for you.
Another thing that might serve you as a red flag is the fact that he constantly runs into his ex-girlfriend.
Is it really a coincidence, due to the similar habits they developed while they were in a relationship, or maybe he has an urge to see her but doesn’t want to admit it, so he makes it all look like a coincidence?
2. He talks about her all the time
If your partner has been in a long-term relationship with someone, you have to accept that this person was a huge part of his life.
Therefore, you shouldn’t be bothered if he mentions her from time to time, when she is relevant to some event from his past which he wants to share with you. But it doesn’t mean that he ought to talk about her all the time.
If he keeps mentioning his ex-girlfriend without any reason whatsoever, that can be one of the signs you are stuck in an unhealthy rebound relationship. This can mean that he probably thinks about her all the time and can’t help but mention her.
If you constantly feel like he compares you to her and if you feel like you need to compete with the ghosts of his past, you are just his rebound girl, without a doubt.
3. He is too eager to show you off in public
When you first meet a guy who wants to make your relationship as public as possible, you usually take it as a great sign. You think that he is madly in love with you and that he is proud of having such a girlfriend and that he wants everyone around him to know it as well.
But this isn’t always such a good sign. Every relationship has its own pace and if your boyfriend wants to move things too fast, you need to ask yourself what he is trying to prove and to whom.
He’s been introducing you to all of his friends and family and he keeps posting pictures of the two of you all over social media but is it possible that he is only trying to make his ex-girlfriend jealous? Does he invest more energy in making your relationship look good from the outside rather than improving it for real?
If this is the case, it is likely that your boyfriend just wants his ex-girlfriend’s attention. He doesn’t choose which ways to get it and he is ready to do whatever it takes just so she finds out that he is completely over her.
The harsh truth is that you might just be his tool to rub his new happiness in her face.