Love in High School

Love is a tricky thing. People say it almost as often as they breathe nowadays. That makes it hard to know if you really love someone. I can understand the confusion when your boss let's a coworker off for the day and the coworker says, "OMG I love you, thanks!", or when a "best friend" posts a birthday post for somebody they met a week ago and says, "love u so much, have the best day ever". This kind of stuff is hard to distinguish.

It might be even harder in high school. Is it love if she sits in his car before school? Is it love if she wears his jersey? Is it love if he is in her snapchats? Is it love if they have sex after 2 weeks of "talking"? Was it ever love if her best friend is now dating that same guy not even a month after their breakup? People throw these words around like confetti and it seems like everybody is okay with it, living in an ignorant bliss. So then, why am I writing this? Why are you still reading this? It's because we all know that love isn't posting a blurry photo in the parking lot with the hot new football player. We, unlike so many others, hope there is more. If that's love, well then I don't want it.

I don't want the person I love to show up for a a big moment to post something about what a great person he is. I want that person to show up because they know I need them. He should call and talk to me, not text me and respond every 35 minutes. That person should WANT to be around the person they 'love'. I don't ever want to be the 'nagging' girlfriend that he sees as 'needy'. It should all be natural.

Guys don't fall in love like women do. Studies show that women commit after they fall in love, and men are different in that they fall in love after they commit. In other words, when women feel comfortable enough to have sex or drop other guys, that means they have fallen in love and at that point they commit to that one person. Men can have sex with 100 women (not that they do) and not be in love with a single one. When men commit to one woman and have sex after, they are in love. Studies have proven that. Whether that commitment is marriage, or just that they are only 'seeing' that one other person, it is scientifically proven that the 'love' hormones are at their highest in these scenarios for both men and women. So, when girls have sex with a guy and fall in love, they are surprised when these 'high school boys' who are snap chatting a million other girls aren't in love. Both can have the casual 'one night stands', but if they are looking to fall in love it doesn't happen the same way.

I'm not like all people in that I want more than the guy who just wants a girlfriend. I want the guy who wants ME as their girlfriend. For some, they just want experience, someone to show off and status, or maybe just someone to keep them from being lonely. Not that any of this is wrong or bad, but I just want to be in love. Real love. The kind that doesn't 'get old'. The kind that hurts when it falls apart and takes more than 2 weeks to get over. The type of love where you still have a crush on your partner 3 years into the relationship. It might be the hardest thing in the world to fall in love alone, yet it happens all the time. Love is a very tricky thing.