Twenty-something Love

Aaaa sweet, sweet summertime. The season where days are longer, temperatures rise, and possibilities are almost endless. If you’re like me, well, first of all, bless you. You lead an interesting and often comical life my friend. Second of all, you are a hopeless romantic. You envision the world as one where people fall in love when they reach for the same button on the elevator, or that cute Starbucks barista writes his number on your cup. (If anyone has had this happen to them, hit a sister up.) I like to blame all of these ideas on the copious amounts of romantic comedies I’ve indulged in. Some of my friends say I’m too optimistic for my own good. Is this a bad thing? Au contraire, my friend. It makes for fabulous stories and more giggle fits—even if you’re the only one giggling.

I explore this idea of romance as it applies to young love. “Omg, Alessandra, how cliché can you get?” The answer is very, kids. And I am not ashamed. I write this post, as I do all of my other posts, from the wide-eyes of a twenty-something year old. With two years of college behind me, I have come to notice a few things about how people relate to each other, especially in new environments like at university. When you get to college, you discover different kinds of people, as well as different parts about yourself, if you’re lucky. It’s almost nerve-wracking, but it’s also very exciting. As a romantic, I like to think I fall in love all the time, sometimes over and over again, especially with my friends. No I don’t start doodling their name in my binder. But I do adore them to pieces; every single one and for different reasons. I decided to dig a little deeper into the bestie friendships I lucked out with and decided to pick them apart one by one. Behold:

The One That’s Exactly Like You: You and this friend have more than a dozen things in common. You will probably be majoring in the same thing, like to do the same activities on the weekends, and are both equally extroverted (or introverted, but I think we all know which one I am). You nerd out to the same shows, can spend hours on end with each other, and if you’re lucky, they’ve fallen in love with you right back, because you couldn’t imagine getting through your weekends without them.

The One You’ve Known Since the Beginning: You couldn’t lie to this person if you were trained to by the CIA. This person knows you like the back of their hand and never lets you forget it. They know all about that awkward goth-phase you had in middle school and what kind of guy you have your eye on. They may not have the same tastes as you and you might not see them more than once a month, but when you do, it’s as if you had been living under the same roof for the past twenty years, because in your hearts, you have. This is a rare one.

The One You’ve Always Had a Thing For: Let’s face it, this person is just adorable. They are similar to you, but not too similar so as to keep things interesting. They are as equally beautiful on the outside as they are on the inside and sometimes you just have to wonder why you aren’t already married. You may not have known them for too long but it was only a matter of weeks before you knew that this person was a gem. You can’t count the number of times you’ve doubled-over laughing with this person, falling more and more in love with them with every gasp of air. The timing isn’t always right for you guys romantically, but it always is for your friendship.

The One That’s Always There: You and this person may butt heads more than any other one of your friends. But you love them more and more each day because they will always be there for you. This is the person you call up at 4 in the morning when you’ve had a bad dream. Or the person that helps you cook pasta because you’re a helpless hot mess. Because you spend so much time together, they usually know what you’re going to say before you even say it. You can have a whole conversation with nothing but glances as well as chat about the few mutual interests you have until the sun comes up. You love them, you hate them, but they are always there, no matter what.

I could go into the details of an actual romantic relationship. Or perhaps the technicalities of a summer fling. But you could watch any Kate Hudson movie for that and get the idea. The types of love I’ve listed above are a bit more rare, I think, at least in my experience. They are the more intricate ones, the ones that are often too hard to explain to others, the ones not always shown in the movies. But I think they’re really the most special.