HAPPILY EVER NOPE
“I think I love him. But it’s not a big deal. I fall in love very easily,” I realized as I drove to see my new boyfriend a few months ago. I was plagued with guilt. It was my third relationship in a year and I no longer trusted my instincts or my plan for a fairytale love story. I’ve been a romantic since birth. Proposal stories thrill me and I squeal when two characters kiss on screen for the first time. If I’ve ever been in the same room with you, I know whether or not you are wearing a wedding ring. Sometimes I cry when I see someone eating alone at a restaurant. Nothing makes me sadder than the possibility of a person never finding their lobster.* (*Friends reference. Ross and Rachel forever.)
I’ve always equated happiness with marriage. My parents are best friends. They are eternal partners who crack each other up. For a girl who felt lonely and misunderstood most of her life, nothing spelled success more than finding a life-long buddy. You would never get lost at the mall because someone was always looking for you. Plus, you got to kiss a lot. It’s a win-win.
I remember the first time I switched my Facebook to “In A Relationship.” I sat in my dorm room and clicked back and forth between my page and his. It was more thrilling than an amusement park. I was tied to someone. Publicly! The relationship lasted two months. Flash forward to that summer and I was flying to Texas to stay with my next boyfriend’s family. Watch out world! Things were getting serious! By that fall, I was single again and plunging into a two-year depression. But then something finally happened my senior year. I fell in love with an amazing guy, and for the first time, he actually loved me back. My plan was working. I had a date to my sister’s wedding. I had a best friend who called me his girlfriend. I, eventually, moved into a one-bedroom apartment with him. Approximately sixteen weeks later, he moved out and I had to revisit the dating scene at the ripe age of 23.
I took some time off. I learned to be alone again. I prepared myself for the next guy. I now knew what I needed to be happy. It was naïve to think that my first long-term relationship would lead to marriage. All interesting people have baggage. I now had one large suitcase and a bunch of purses. I was ready to put everything down and settle into the rest of my life. Except the next guy wasn’t right or nice or funny. So I tried to cover up the pain of the break up with a new guy, who was very nice and funny but “not for me.” “Not for me” is a term I could not have even tried to explain before experiencing that bizarre tingling in your stomach that isn’t butterflies but nervous ants trying to alert you to an unexplainable problem. That is a big lesson in dating: not all problems need to be explainable. If that concept doesn’t sit well with you, blame it on timing or pheromones. Just make sure you get out.
2014 had started out as the year of new beginnings, but suddenly I was two break-ups in and it wasn’t even Thanksgiving. In addition to being devastated, I was exhausted. My career is the opposite of stable. I wanted one part of my life to be figured out. Cue Boyfriend Number Six a few months later. He was (is) smart, funny, and mostly nice. Great. Super. When are we going to break up?
I don’t know if jaded is the right way to describe my approach to this relationship but it’s pretty fucking close. Everything I’ve experienced with him, I’ve already experienced with someone else. Unless he becomes my husband, he will never be my “first” anything. My friends and family have already had to “get to know” what feels like a parade of guys. I’ve already perfected my break-up playlist. I’ve already shared my deepest secrets. Each time they lose some of their power. My cousin recently asked, “Is he temporary?” I replied, “Probably. They all seem to be.” If that feels cold hearted, then I’m doing my job. I’m actively weaning myself of the belief that this guy could be “the one,” because my heart can’t take another surprise ending that fades out on me throwing out his toothbrush.
Last week, I texted my best friend, “Déjà vu.” I was standing with my current boyfriend in a bowling alley that I had only ever previously visited with the two that came before him. She replied, “Run.” I considered it. What’s the point of putting the time into something that will more likely than not end in heartbreak? When we have a great day together, a part of me secretly laments that I will have to burn it from my memory the moment we break up. I never thought I would be the type of person with one foot out the door.
But maybe that’s not such a bad thing. Maybe my desire to instantly lock down my previous relationships with a death grip is what caused all the air to rush out of them. I’m no longer planning future trips that will need to be refunded if everything falls apart. I’m not picturing him in my life a year from now. I’m not breathing a false sigh of relief because I have finally found my lobster. For all I know, my lobster might be across the country trading stocks. He could be down the hall from my apartment waiting for me to bump into him. Or he could be the guy who currently calls me his girlfriend and recently told his friend that we will probably be together for a while because “we get along well.” His guess is as good as mine.