When Jenna and I were both in middle
school, we would roll our eyes over the dramatics of “couples” displaying affection
and expressing emotion only to break up and express drama. Gag.
Both of us were determined not to experience the stupid emotions
ourselves – at least not in school. Not
middle school. Not high school. She had plans of “not ever”. I succeeded with keeping my emotions in tact all through high school. No love interests. No broken hearts. She, on the other hand, has had two "shedding tears" experiences.
She and Nathan were friends, but he
was starting to like her as more than a friend and told her so. Things would have been perfectly fine if he
hadn’t said anything. They would have
remained just friends and no stupid emotions would have entered the
picture. It was nerve racking in a
way. Why would he do that? Why would he mess up a good friendship for
something gross? She was mortified in
one way but yet flattered in the other.
She had barely turned 15 and did not want to commit to a relationship,
but she did like Nathan. Perhaps they
could just hold hands and work up to something more after she had turned
16. But that was quite a wait.
Neither one of them wanted to call
their first date a “date”. It was just two
people hanging out. Yet it felt awkward
for each of them as they knew there was the "more than just friends” label hanging over them. Nathan broke it off just after the school let
out for summer vacation. It would have
been fine if he had never said anything in the first place. Jenna had not even wanted a relationship in
the first place – and yet she became attached.
He had put thought into their “breaking up”. He wanted to respect her religion. He is a senior this year and she is a sophomore. It isn’t like the relationship was going to
last anyway. But still it hurt. It had been his idea and then he said he didn’t
want to see her that way. He should have
just kept it all to himself to begin with and then she wouldn’t have felt the
pain. Stupid Love.
I never understood this song until the
“break-up” happened. I felt bad. I didn’t know what to do. They go to the same school though she did not
have any classes with him. She and her
friend still continue with a class that they had with Nathan last year – but he
was not in the class anymore. Not many
guys were. There is one they teased and
were playing with his hair and another boy, Chris, asked why they weren’t
playing with his hair. So Jenna started
playing with his hair. They became fast
friends. They held hands in the hall –
which according to high school terms qualifies as “dating”. I don’t know that there was any “love” there. Jenna and Chris had very little in common.
They went to a school dance. He came over for Thanksgiving. They exchanged gifts at Christmas and
Valentine’s Day. Jenna got tired of participating
in high school activities that he was obviously not interested in. After Valentine’s she broke off things with
Chris. Ironically there had been more
tears over Chris than there were for Nathan – whom she may not have shared much
in common with either. For one thing
Jenna LOVES water. Always has. And Nathan is deathly afraid.
Chris did not react well to the “break-up”.
Jenna is afraid that she has lost him as a friend and wishes she wouldn’t have
said anything. At the same time she didn’t
wish to string him along. It was quite
obvious to me that they weren’t going anywhere.
I like both Chris and Nathan. I
hate the “heartbreak” thing. I wish I
was better at dealing with it. When
Jenna hurts, I hurt. I hate the stupid
emotions connected with Love.
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