Based on a True Story

She sat down on the sofa in a huff. No matter how many times they talked about everything they always ended up in some sort of argument. And over text? Not mature in the slightest. She had only talked to a few boys, and none were ever real potential. More so like friends... just distractions from the constant ache inside of her chest. She was sure he knew that much. Talking to other boys was no cakewalk. Trying to "get back out there" and enjoying herself wasn't exactly something she could do with ease the past few weeks. Without knowing it, he still held her heart in his own heartbroken hands. Or maybe he did know...

Her phone kept going off with text messages from him. He wasn't in any way being mean, or harsh, but he was definitely frustrated, in return frustrating her. They were not together at that point, he pushed her away to the point where she gave him the space he seemed to want. She was always the one who had an immense amount patience... never pushing him to any kind of breaking point or asking any kind of pressuring questions. But at this point in their relationship, or whatever you would call it, she was really getting fed up. She couldn't hold things back anymore fearing the assertiveness with him would cause him to shut down, or just because she was afraid of what kind of answers she would get in reply.

She sighed and pulled out her phone to answer his messages, all of her questions coming out in a rush.

"Why are you so jealous when I mention the opposite sex? Why do you get upset with me when I don't text you for an extended period of time? Why do you constantly ask me questions to find out anything about me?" And then she took a deep breath, and wrote out, "Are you in love with me… or not?"

His texts came back immediately, as if these were the questions he was waiting for her to ask.

"I'm not jealous," he replied. "I just don't like not knowing what is going on."

She shook her head and immediately text back, "I don't believe you." Why couldn't he swallow his pride?

Then another came as she sent that one. "I don't get upset when you don't text me, I just don't like it when you claim I don't text you when you don't text me either."

Again, shaking her head, her fingers wrote, "I don't believe you."

Once more, he responded, "I ask you questions because I like to know things. I don't like surprises."

And as she began to spell out 'I don't believe you' for the third time, another text came through. She stopped and opened that one, not even thinking of what it could possibly say.

"And I believe I'm in love with you. And that's the truth. You can choose to believe it or not."

Her entire world suddenly stopped. Everything in her world was only about that text that was lighting up her phone at that moment. She reread the word slowly, over and over again. As they sunk in, she realized what he was saying to her. She looked up, trying to remember where she was. She saw her dad sitting on the computer, paying bills quietly, and her mom was watching television, holding her pillow and drinking her glass of wine. She looked back down at the text and tried to maintain composure... not that she would lose it in a way that they'd think she'd gone crazy, but she felt her body shaking, and she knew her cheeks were either very red, or very white at that moment. She put her phone down and folded her hands, trying to make it seem as though she wasn't  just a 19 year old girl who had just heard the most exhilarating news she's ever come across in her entire life.

Her mind was doing summersaults, her heart was setting off fireworks… You see, it's the things you fight for and struggle with before earning that have the greatest worth. When something's difficult to come by, and you finally have it in your own hands, you get the most amazing euphoric feeling you've ever had in your life. It's the idea of distance and accomplishment. The further you go, the more you have to be proud of. In the end, it's not how you reached it that matters, but just the fact that you got there at all. And she had just gotten to that place she had been striving towards all along.