Justin Linville

18

The sun rose and everything fell.
It was like nothing I said tonight even mattered. Alex had made up her mind before I even started talking, like she always does. It’s so incredibly frustrating spending the whole night trying to save our relationship only to be told that “we just weren’t meant to be”. And, maybe she’s right, maybe we weren’t meant to be. Maybe we weren’t the star-crossed lovers I thought we were.
Maybe we’re the relationship that crumbles in the beginning of the rom-com and in a few days I’m going to meet the perfect girl that promises to get me out of my slump…. assuming I’m the protagonist. Oh shit, I could be the antagonist. What if I’m not Norah from Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist? What if I’m Tris? Okay, I have got to start using metaphors wherein I am the male protagonist/antagonist, I mean it would’ve been much easier to say Nick instead of Norah and Tal instead of Tris. Shit, do I know that movie too well? Doesn’t matter, I’ve got other things to focus on. Like, how do I go to Psych class in three hours without crying my eyes out? How do I tell my parents that the girl I brought home for Thanksgiving that Grandpa said to "hold onto" as he inexplicably slipped me ten dollars, is no longer in my life?
This is ridiculous, I don’t need her, okay? I need to be with a girl that is supportive, kind, smart and fun. I need to be with a girl that is genuinely interested in my life but, has her own shit going on. I need a girl that is okay with feeling her feelings and letting me in. Someone that is okay with hearing me feel my feelings. I need someone that is fiercely opinionated and not afraid to speak her mind. You know what? I’m hearing myself now and I’m just listing attributes that Alex has.
Fuck, why did we break up again? Oh yeah, she said I don’t seem mature enough for this relationship and I need to get out of my own head. Oh, she is totally right. If I had just got out of my own head tonight and listened to what she was saying, we’d still be together. Alright, what’s my course of action? Let’s brainstorm- shit! The whole point of this is to get out of my own head. I’m just going to pull a Chuck at the end of Season Two of Chuck and chase after her. You know, in the time it took for me to come up with that dumb metaphor, I could have been chasing after her. This is ridiculous. I’m just going to go and hope she’s still around and there’s still an opportunity to save this relationship. Whoa! Has Connor been asleep this whole time? I forget I have a roommate, I really hope he didn’t hear me call myself Tris.

As Alex waited outside the door of her boyfriend’s dorm room, listening to him talk to himself like an idiot, she couldn’t help but smile.

Alex stared at the door handle and slowly turned the knob.