Legend has it that there once lived a girl too beautiful for words. Jaws dropped when men walked past her; heads turned when she walked down the halls, and eyes widened when she lit the room with a smile. But that girl harbored a secret.. Deep down her soul yearned to tell someone, but her lips would not allow that secret, the rite of passage. Nobody knew her struggle and her pain remained unseen. Wise men theorized that she had entrusted her heart to a handsome man, whose beauty equaled her own. Some say she loved him, but that he did not love her back.
When the day came that he left her, he handed her back her heart, but it wasn’t the same. Where it had once been whole and full of gold, it was now fractured, barely beating, and bleeding out. His John Hancock forever etched into the lining of her so-called heart as a constant reminder of her first love.
So as it were, the legend goes that she grew weary of the many helpless fools that followed after that first. So weary in fact, that one day out of sheer frustration, she embraced the clippers in her hands and each strand hit the floor with a, “Snip. Snip. Snip.” She sound she cut it all off, nearly to the scalp; all with hopes that she could look into the mirror and appear as she felt inside.
The girl gave up on boys that sought aimlessly to hold her, and on all men at that. She began to wear her clothes a little looser and stopped painting on her face before leaving the house. After all she felt it unnecessary to appear one way on the outside, and feel another on the inside. She gave up. She turned to the only people that understood her; fellow heart-broken females and she sought comfort in their arms. Even though she had turned herself into, what she believed would chase away men, it did just the opposite. Her beauty was too much for them to handle, even with her sudden changes it seemed to just allow them to see her natural beauty. Men saw her as pure perfection, willing to do backflips to win her affection, but it was all in vain. She persisted to turn the other way in order to avoid heartbreak. The girl kept her head down, walking fast to outpace those wondering eyes, though she could not escape them. She could not see why guys were so drawn to her; she was unable to see her, unwilling to accept it.
Years passed and still she was not happy. All of her relationships amounted to mere flings and she feared letting people get too close. She harbored doubt inside, secretly she longed for something more, something meaningful. The girl wished to find love again. She was fearful to take chances and the men that had wanted her, kept to themselves for fear of public rejection.
She had almost given up, when a rumor hit the school. It spread like wildfire. The rumor was that there was a guy at school that had a hopeless crush on her, which he felt would never be. With the rumor fresh in her ear, a sudden burst of happiness came over her. She simply could not figure out who it could possibly be. She asked all around, but people did not seem to know or if they did they weren’t saying. Tears filled her eyes when her search for answers wound up a failure.
One night arriving home she found herself hitting rock bottom.. She spent the next few days crying herself to sleep at night, fearing that she’d never be happy again. How had her life gone from pure perfection to this loneliness and despair? To this hell she was living now? She dreamt of the old days, when everyone looked at her with HIM and she heard them whisper things like; “they’re so cute.”, “she’s so gorgeous.”, and “he’s so lucky to have her!”. She didn’t miss the attention or the compliments, she just missed the way HIS hand felt in hers; the way HE knew when she was upset and would make her smile, the way HE treated her like a princess, the way HE laughed at her when she fell, but was always there to pick her up. That’s what she missed.
Her mind left her as she lost herself, dwelling on the past.
HIM.
Her.
The good times.
She slid her hand into her nightstand drawer and pulled out a tiny orange cylinder. She twisted the top and emptied the many contents into her hand. She stared down at those tiny colorful capsules she held. Her hand reached for the water bottle that lay beside her and she slowly lifted the pills up to her lips….
“DING! DONG!” just then the sound of the doorbell broke in and ruined her train of thought. She slid the pills back into the container and headed downstairs to answer the door. She wiped the tears from her eyes as her hand turned the knob. When the door opened she saw a familiar face.
“Hey there.” He said; his bright white teeth glimmered in the light of the sun. He was very well dressed from head-to-toe and held a single rose in his hand, which she did not notice before that he was holding out for her. She was lost in utter bewilderment. He stood there kindly looking up at her, dressed in a deep purple shirt, which she considered now to be her favorite color, but just what was her friend’s brother doing at her house?
“Hey.” She replied, bringing herself back to the present moment.
“This is for you.” He said holding out the rose and displaying a half-smirk.
“Thank you.” She said tittering as she took the rose from him.
“I know that this is probably way out there, but I figured I’d take my chances. I have something to tell you.” He said shyly, looking into her eyes.
“Okay.” She replied anxiously.
He took a deep breath.
“I have been near you for so long and I have admired how beautiful you are, and also how strong, but I can’t help but think that you seem broken. I see you smile, but it’s not sincere. And I know that you gave up on relationships , but I think that is because one guy did you wrong, and honestly that guy is dumb because if you were my girl I would never be stupid enough to hurt you. Ever! You are the most beautiful girl I have ever met! I swallowed my pride and maybe my dignity too, coming over here to ask you to be my girlfriend. It’s killing me that I can’t get you out of my mind! When you smile, my heart melts. When your eyes water I feel broken. When I see you all alone, I just want to be there with you… because I… I love you!”
His eyes filled with tears and he hid his face in his hands. She looked at him in shock. How did it get to this?
She was back to a new school, first day. There he was. He came up to her and shyly said,
“Hey. I think you are very gorgeous!” and she smiled.
“Thank you.” she replied.
For the next year, everywhere she went, so did he. When she cried, he was the shoulder she leaned on. When she needed to vent, it was his ears that absorbed her words. When she fell, he was there to pick her up, never laughing until she did. When she was broken, he made her laugh until her smile came back. This guy standing in front of her, pouring his heart out had always been there for her and had never once judged her. He was the only person who truly understood her.
She took a step towards him and pulled his hands away from his face and held them in hers. They locked eyes and she smiled up at him. She gently wiped a tear from his cheek.
“I love you too.” She whispered softly to him, leaning closer. He swooped her up in his arms.
“Promise?” He asked, displaying that smile he had when he first arrived at her doorstep.
“I promise.” she said giggling as their lips met.
“Good.” he said back. “I promise too.”
So the legend goes that they lived a long and happy life together. They graduated High school together, bought a car, a house, and a dog. Then shortly after they were surprised by the positive reading on the white stick, and were blessed with a beautiful baby girl.
She never regretted her decision to give him a chance, and he never laughed at her when she fell… And that is what I guess you could call their happy-ever-after.