-x-
Love.
Such an overrated word. You know, you've watched those movies and read those books with those teenage characters who seem to know everything about 'love'. And you probably know how when those girls in those books fall in love, all they start caring about is their "one special guy". They start dressing up more, they start to apply just a little more lip gloss...
And all that I, (oops, I didn't introduce myself to you yet, hi, I'm Kirstin Dawson, but you can call me Kit) can really say about this whole thing is.... ew.
See, I'm not really a fan of the whole concept of "falling in love". Because what's the point of falling in love when you're eventually going to fall out of it?
Everybody around me is so obsessed in finding love, obsessed with finding their perfect someone. Do these so called soulmates even exist? All that really happens is that two people find each other hot so they start going out together. Then, they break up when something goes wrong (because humans are just so cowardly; their first instinct is to drop everything and hide) and then they go running to find someone new. I mean, when the whole process is this simple, why does everybody just over-complicate it?
It's completely overrated, and I'm sure nobody can prove me wrong. The topic of love and relationships and romance are things that I try to stay away from.
Until love, itself, decided to come to me.
-x-
I leaned back against the wall of the food court, my eyes fixed on Gabby, who was bickering furiously on the phone with whom I assumed was her boyfriend. I don't know if I've mentioned this before or no, but they haven't been on good terms lately. They're literally always arguing about something or the other, it's absolutely stupid. But of course, since I'm Gabby's best friend, I have to lie to her face and mutter words of consolation whenever she comes to me crying, because Jason was ignoring her texts.
I ran my hand through my blonde hair as Gabby continued to hiss insults into her phone, my fingers lazily combing through the knots, examining my best friend. She's five feet four inches tall with straight brown hair and hazel eyes, with all the curves in the right places. That's one thing I'm super jealous of- Gabby can eat a five-pound cheesecake, three bags of potato crisps, one large cheese pizza and a milkshake, and not even gain one extra ounce of weight.
She muttered, "I'm so done with you, asshole!" into the phone, before she hung up, shoving her phone into her pocket.
On cue, I reached out to comfort her. Her eyes were glistening with fury, her brown hair messy from all the times she had tried to pull it out in frustration. I gave her a sympathetic smile as she groaned, throwing her hands into the air with frustration..
"I absolutely hate boys," she hissed through clenched teeth. "Why do they think they're always right? God, Jason sucks!"
When Jason had first asked Gabby out, she had asked me for my advice- even though she knew me too well to expect me to be enthusiastic about her relationship. I had then told her that Jason didn't seem like a guy who was I quote, 'boyfriend material.' Gabby had thanked me for being such a honest best friend, before she texted Jason and agreed to be his girlfriend.
In the current situation I was in, would it be cruel if I run around singing I-told-you-so at the top of my lungs?
"What did he do this time?" I questioned, recalling their previous arguments about various different things. They fought over a water bottle once. A freaking water bottle. They didn't talk for three days and I was the one who had to persuade both of them to forgive each other (it wasn't something I enjoyed doing).
"Ugh, he's too busy for me these days," Gabby scowled, leaning against the wall beside me. "He always cancels on me, or tells me he has other plans. I got so sick of it that I called to confront him, and now he's accusing me of being a very clingy girlfriend and that I don't trust him or something. He always makes everything to be my fault and not his!"
I sighed, shrugging loosely. "If he makes you feel that way, maybe you should break up with him."
Gabby gave me a dark look, rolling her eyes at me. "I was never talking about breaking up with him, Kit. That's just going to make everything so much worse."
"You're not even happy with him," I narrowed my eyes at her, crossing my arms across my chest. "And you guys fight way too much, that it's unhealthy."
Gabby didn't respond, her eyes trained on her heels thoughtfully. Finally, she looked up at me. "So you want me to end things with him for now until he realizes his mistake?"
That wasn't what I had originally meant, but I shrugged, since Gabby's judgement on relationships was obviously much better than mine. "Maybe. You'll know what to do, you always do."
"You really think so?"
"I know so," I replied, and she laughed a little.
"Well, you're right for once," she smiled lightly, poking me in the side, making me giggle. "You're so good at giving relationship advice for someone who doesn't really give a shit about relationships."
"Not true," I protested. "I do give a shit about relationships; they're fun while they last. I just don't believe in making everything so serious while we're still kids."
Gabby raised her eyebrows at me before she broke into a quiet chuckle, shaking her her head. "Only you, Kit, only you."
-x-
A few hours later after raiding Forever 21 and Aeropostale, Gabby had to go home early to babysit her younger brother. I decided to stick around at the mall for a little longer, because I had nothing better to do at home.
I waltzed into a cozy looking cafe and relaxed into a cushioned seat with a frappe and my phone in my hands. I scrolled through my social media like always- switching from sending ugly snaps to my friends on Snapchat, to stalking hot guys on Instagram. I ended up looking at random accounts on Instagram, casually scrolling until I stumbled onto this one account.
It was called, "ConfessionsWithCupid."
'Hey, you can call me Cupid. No, not that baby god in a diaper with the harp- but the eighteen year old boy who's ready to break pieces of his own heart to fix yours.'
I snorted at the description, rolling my eyes as I scrolled through his feed. His page was actually really popular, with a lot of followers and constant activity. He gave love advice to people, mainly teenage girls, who apparently wanted to know how guys think. This cupid guy, assuming he wasn't gay, gave answers from a straight dude's point of view on love and relationships.
It made me laugh but also made me roll my eyes. This guy was all about "falling in love while you're young". He was all about maintaining a "healthy relationship", about loving everybody, and he just wouldn't stop ranting on about how being in love felt amazing.
As I scrolled through his blog to amuse myself by reading the advice he was giving people, I was kinda annoyed. One of the questions he got went like this-
Q:-
Hey Cupid! I'm Jessica, I'm 19 years old and I've been going steady with my boyfriend from almost three years. We're a happy couple and we spend a lot of time with each other and we're so in love. But then his best friend suddenly came up to me yesterday and told me that my boyfriend was planning to propose. I don't know how to feel about that. See, we've just started college and I don't think this is the correct time for me to get married. As much as I love him, I don't want him to spend money on a ring and everything. I don't know what to do, how to feel. I definitely won't say no to the marriage but I can't say yes. I'm confused and I don't want to hurt him! Help??? :( :( :(
I'm sorry if you disagree with me, but really, who wants to date a guy who wants to marry you at nineteen? It almost sounds fishy, like he's trying to get the government involved just to keep her all to himself. That's what marriage basically is- getting the government involved because you love each other so much and you don't want to let each other go.
This "cupid" though, had a different view on this. His answer to her question went a little something like this.
A:-
Jessica, Jessica, Jessica. Your situation may seem really complicated to you right now, but you need to relax, everything's simple. So here's my advice. I'm a guy, and so is your boyfriend. So here's a thing about us, "guys". We don't always think things through. Your boyfriend probably thinks it's time for him to propose you- or maybe he's being pressurized into it. Since you're so sure that you don't want to get married, you should probably confront him about it before he goes out, grabs a ring and gets down on his knee. Try to make him understand that you're not ready for such a big step yet and that you don't want to rush.
And since you say, you're so in love, he'll probably understand.
Hope everything works out,
Cupid.
I rolled my eyes as I read over, sipping my frappe as I did. This account was stupid, but I decided to follow it anyway, curious to find out more about this jobless guy who gave advice to girls on Instagram. It sounds a little weird, if you ask me.
Locking my phone, I slipped it back into my pocket as I finished my frappe, ready to leave this cafe to head to the book store where I'd probably sit for a couple of hours. I forgot about the whole Instagram account thing, and what I wasn't ready for was that it would change my life completely.
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