I am nobody's girlfriend

[aidenonymous]

I spent today with a good friend of mine from way, way back.  We went to the same synagogue as little kids and somehow remained friends despite not having much in common.  I'm bad at maintaining communication with people, but I consider myself very fortunate to be able to pick things up right where I left off and have my friends not mind it.  Well, since I last saw her, my friend seems to have developed a specialty in ebonics (which is culturally inappropriate for both of us) and kept using "girl" as an exclamation at the beginning and ends of sentences.  I'm not out to her and don't know when or at this point if I'll come out.  She thinks of me as her tomboy friend because that was a complete description when we first met, and I have no reason to think she has any knowledge of gender concepts.  Anyway, getting called "girlfriend" every other sentence was grating on me, so I told her that it was making me uncomfortable after the first couple times.  She mostly stopped after that, and when she said it she caught herself and apologized, then rephrased whatever she had said.  I really do appreciate that she took my complaint seriously and made a genuine effort to stop, but it still hurt anyway and gives me some doubt about the future of our friendship.