Taking Care Of My Girlfriend

In our senior year in high school my best friend fell off a balcony and became paraplegic. No mobility below the waist, life in a wheelchair. Her mother, my mother, our friends, teachers, therapists, you name it, insisted I become her emotional support. Unsaid was the beginning of a codependent relationship.

She came with me to college, we lived in a duplex previously modified for wheelchair living. So many little things, in addition to the obvious. Her patents provided the van, and I became the muscle. I bathed her, washed her hair and combed it, did her nails, made clothes for her. We were cautioned about becoming codependent, but caution didn't prevent it. I slept with her, put her to bed, got her up and ready, and took her to school. Her parents insisted and she went to a facility to learn independent living. It tore at my heart, and she missed me too.

I met a guy who got handy and insistent. Life changed when he imposed his will on me. My girlfriend wanted me to accept it, she needed to live her life fully. This boyfriend of sorts was insistent, he wanted a full time girlfriend, unincumbered is how he put it. I couldn't abandon her, she fell back into the pattern of me taking care of her.

Is it platonic love, sisterly love, latent lesbian feelings?