@princeofcups But what you're talking about isn't what any of these people mean by "progress". They mean two people who are both in love with each other and spend all their time together doing such things as
--Confessing their love
--Becoming boyfriend and girlfriend
--Going on dates
--Smooching,
--Being euphoric about these things
--Maybe even . . . handholding!
rather than just noodling around forever sort of half-pretending not to be in love. If it's a romance, I think actually becoming romantic should be considered "progress". Whether we actually
want progress is a matter of taste, but what people who want progress are asking for is, in fact, progress.
I do agree about "literally", though. The use of "literally" to mean "figuratively" started as a sort of exaggeration, and was never a very good figure of speech anyway, but at this point it's just stupid.