It's cold, it's dark, and your body wants to cuddle— studies show that conception peaks in winter and drops off during the summer months. So what do you do if you're single? You either crawl under the covers solo, or you suddenly take a second glance at the cute but awkward guy who lives in your building, start a make out session with a date whose mispronunciation of February makes you cringe (Feb-YOO-ary?) or text the Tinder dude you went out for drinks with a few weeks earlier. In short, you may find yourself seeking out an indoor boyfriend—someone who you may not have a strong enough connection to warrant a relationship, but whose warm body can make yours melt.

A few years ago, The Hairpin mocked the concept of winter boyfriends, making them seem like something only a psychotic woman would ever actually want. Enter the Polar Vortex, and the concept suddenly seems to make a whole lot of sense, at least to me. After all, spending a Saturday afternoon by yourself, curled up under a blanket with takeout and a House of Cards marathon can make you feel uncomfortably like a hermit, especially when you realize the only words you've said out loud in 24 hours have been to the pizza guy. Do it with a friend—which, at it's core, is who the Winter Boyfriend is—and it's an actual activity, worthy of Tweeting, Instagramming, or otherwise proving that, even though you never changed out of your pajamas and considered walking to the bathroom an aerobic activity—you did something for the day.

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Compared to an actual dating situation, where someone has to plan an actual outing and pony up cash, an indoor relationship is egalitarian. It's about Seamless-ing from whoever's account is in the neighborhood, about bringing a bottle of wine if you're the one who's making the move from one apartment to the other, and about not getting mad if all the other partner wants to do is fall asleep under many covers after an evening of Netflix binging. It's being able to eat fried food, get drunk, and curl up on the couch in various states of undress, being 100% honest about your needs.

"I spent one winter hooking up with a guy, and the sex wasn't even that great," says Jess, 28. "And I'm not being disloyal, because I know he'd agree. We, like, would laugh about how awkwardly we fit together, which would never happen in a traditional relationship. But he was funny, his couch was comfortable, and I realized that I'd rather hang out with him than go on random dates that required effort. Maybe it made me lazy, but it was actually a really good time in my life."

Lane, 29, also has fond memories of the man she hooked up with four winters ago. "He was a coworker, which would have made a traditional relationship tricky. But neither of us wanted a relationship. We are all about our work lives, which is why we were so compatible as coworkers … and I think part of the reason we began hooking up was because we were both stressed out, overwhelmed, and needed to do something with ourselves. And I do think winter had a lot to do with it, because we were inside, in the office, all the time. If it were summer, I think one of us would have just gone for a run." And Lane has no regrets about the experience, and is still friendly with her former winter boyfriend, even though they haven't hooked up since then. "But both of us were honest that we didn't see ourselves together, which made it work. If one of us had developed feelings, it would have been weird. But we knew each other well enough to know we could have talked through that," she says.

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And that's the point: For an indoor relationship to work, it has to feel good. A recent study from the University of Toronto found that fear of being single is a huge predictor in settling for a less than satisfactory relationship for both men and women. Finding an indoor boyfriend isn't about settling, it's about finding someone who agrees that, when you're single, it's sometimes easier to brave the cold as a twosome than on your own.

And the way the calendar is set up makes it very clear whether or not the relationship will turn into something more. Valentine's Day is the make-or-break holiday that gives you both a chance to suss out how your relationship is going to go. According to scholars, the V-Day tradition—flowers, chocolate, and an overpriced reservation at an overcrowded restaurant—began in Chaucerian times. And who's to say that it didn't partially get it's start because medieval Kings and Queens were looking forward to Mayday festivities and wanted to rid the castle from hangers-on? After all, even a medieval fortress can feel crowded after too many days holed up on one side of the moat.

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"I was relieved when the guy I was seeing said all he wanted to do on Valentine's Day was order fried chicken. It was unromantic, and that was the point. It was perfect," explains Jess. She and her guy eventually stopped seeing each other when she started training for a triathlon in the spring. Similarly, as Lane predicted, as soon as the weather started getting warmer, she and her coworker found themselves busier outside the office, and they eventually stopped seeing each other without any formal break up.

This winter, I found myself single, and for a few weeks after New Years, I was tempted to fast track first dates into relationships. There's something magical about scurrying crosstown through the snow, waiting to be welcomed into a warm apartment with a hug and a glass of wine or waking up and knowing the entire day stretches on devoid of any plans but brunch. But at the end of each date, no guy was right for a night, let alone for a few months.

So if you do have a winter boyfriend, enjoy what you have, even if you know the passion is going to thaw as soon as you can head outside without a coat. Personally, alone and with no prospects on the horizon, I ended up taking matters into my own hands and booked a ticket to spend the rest of the winter in LA. I may be alone, but at least I'm not out in the cold … and am psyched to head outside and search for love.

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