Post #2
Taken men of Reddit, what’s your love story like? Where do you think your relationship will take you?
quidditchcaptain27 • 6 yrs ago
Buckle up, everyone! It’s my time to shine!
So, I’ve known my girlfriend since I was young. She’s one of my younger brother’s best friends, but since we went to the same school and lived in the same neighborhood, we knew each other and we got along well. Granted, we weren’t close at first since I was a year older and I saw her more as my younger brother’s friend than anything.
At school, we had a very different social group. I was one of the jocks known for causing trouble and pranks, and she was one of the high-achievers known for her know-it-all and bookworm tendencies. We also have different personalities. While I spent my time in the field, she spent her time in the library. While I was busy pranking, she was busy studying or running the school (she was the student body’s president). Like I said, we’re very different. Think textbook movie tropes, haha!
I’m not going to lie, my girlfriend isn’t the nicest person around if it’s your first time getting to know her. She has a tendency to nag and boss other people around, and she hardly strays from her beliefs, so she would unknowingly offend someone whose beliefs differed from her own. She’s made a lot of enemies because of her behavior, so she’s often been bullied by others as well.
Don’t get me wrong, my girlfriend is absolutely wonderful but she’s not without her flaws. She’s very strict, especially with herself, and some might say rigid, but goddamn if she wasn’t the most caring and thoughtful person that I’ve ever known.
She nags because she cares; if she didn’t, she wouldn’t have paid attention in the first place. She would do anything, even forsake her own beliefs, if it meant keeping the people she loved safe and unharmed. She’d nag, yes, but she wouldn’t leave you behind even when you make stupid mistakes. My favorite thing about her is her dry wit and humor, she always comes up with the greatest comeback.
But she’s not perfect, like I said. She’s made some enemies, and that’s how we got close to each other which eventually led to us dating.
You see, my girlfriend is the type of person who worries about others a lot but doesn’t want people to worry about her. So, all of us didn’t know that she was being bullied by a couple of shitheads. I only happened to find out when I found her in the boy’s locker room, sobbing quietly while trying to save most of her things that her bullies tore to shreds and got wet in the showers.
I was shocked to see her cry since I was used to seeing her as this capable and independent girl. Hardly anything could move my girlfriend. But independence did not mean indifference. Seeing her cry quietly to herself, looking so alone as she picked up the torn pieces of her things, triggered a protective instinct in me.
I tried to help her save some of her things but nothing could be saved, especially not her precious books, some of which were borrowed from the library. I asked her who did this, and she said that I needed to mind my own business. I knew that she was only lashing out because she didn’t want anyone to make a fuss. She’d rather suffer in silence rather than scream her agony, which is strange since she’s quite vocal whenever she saw someone getting mistreated.
I didn’t accept her answer and insisted to know who ruined her things. But she refused to answer, which made my blood boil. I kept my wits, since the last thing I wanted was to blow up in her face when she was already suffering enough. I helped her gather her things and insisted she rode in my car. Thankfully, class ended for that day, and there were few people around to catch my girlfriend in a vulnerable state. I knew she’d hated that even more.
“Don’t tell your younger brother,” I remembered her saying to me when we got into my car. I wanted to argue with her but seeing her defeated expression, red-rimmed eyes, and slumped posture made me shut my mouth.
We were quiet throughout the entire ride. I realized then that this was the first time we’ve been alone together since we’ve known each other. Usually, we were accompanied by some of our childhood friends, but now that we were alone, I got nervous for some reason. I shook off the nerves, dropped her off at her place before heading towards mine.
She told me not to tell my younger brother and I honored that, but she didn’t say anything about me telling my friends. So, I told them about what happened to her. My girlfriend had always been closer to my friends than I was to her, so they were righteously mad to learn about this incident.
The next few days, we waited around her and tried to locate her bullies. We had to find them ourselves because she didn’t want anyone to know. Once we found out who her bullies were, we took revenge for her sake. Now, I’m not going to tell you what it was LMAO because I wouldn’t want to be incriminated, but let’s just say that it exposed a few things about their true natures and got them expelled from school.
My girlfriend knew that I was the culprit and confronted me about it. At first she was mad at me for taking actions when she specifically said to mind my own business, but after she calmed down, she thanked me for what I did and for not telling my younger brother. Until now, my brother doesn’t know how we truly got close, and I plan to keep it that way, not because I don’t think he deserves to know, but because she asked me to not say anything and he’d get hurt if he found out that my girlfriend had been hurt without him knowing to prevent it.
So, water under the bridge and all that. Since then, we treated each other differently. I began to see her more than just my younger brother’s best friend, but a rather brilliant, beautiful, and amazing woman to be around. Suddenly, she wasn’t just that girl who grew up in the same neighborhood as me and struck a tight friendship with my brother. She became the girl I wanted to protect and spend time with.
We spent time together just the two of us, which looking back felt like dates even though we weren’t dating. At some point, I realized that I had fallen irrevocably in love with her. Unfortunately, she liked someone else that time. The person she liked just happened to be the other best friend of my brother, let’s call him Freckles.
Now, Freckles could’ve also liked my girlfriend that time, but he was also in a relationship with someone else. What he did though was string my girlfriend along, since he knew that she liked him. I suppose he liked the idea of having a back-up plan incase him and his girlfriend broke up? Anyways, he made it appear like my girlfriend had a chance with him while he was dating someone else, like a classic asshole.
I didn’t want my girlfriend to get hurt, so I confessed my feelings for her. Of course, she rejected me immediately. It wasn’t my first time getting rejected but it sure did hurt a lot. I played the entire thing off since I knew that she liked Freckles but I didn’t want to give up. I knew that Freckles liked her, and maybe in another world, he could’ve been with her. But not in this life, where he was setting her up to get hurt.
So, rather than back off, I asked her to give me a chance. I told her that we should try dating at least three months, and if she didn’t have feelings for me by then, we could break-up and pretend things didn’t happen. We could stay as friends afterwards. At first, she didn’t want to but I guess something happened because a few days later my confession and preposition, she agreed to start dating.
We didn’t fake-date or anything, like that. We already agreed we’d date for real just to see if she would fall in love with me or not. I didn’t want to rush or force her (even though technically that was what I did…), so for the next few weeks, it was us testing the waters of our newfound relationship and breaking away from our normal friendship status quo. Tbh, nothing much changed except for the occasional handholding, lingering hugging, and a few (a lot) of kissing. That’s when I realized that before we started dating, I’ve been treating her as my girlfriend, lmao.
Our families and friends did know we started dating like two weeks after our relationship began. Most of them have been supportive, especially our parents. My younger brother was reluctant at first, torn between loyalty to his best friend, Freckles, and to me, his older brother. He asked if I was serious with my girlfriend, which I sure as hell was by showing her the ring I planned to give her on her 18th birthday. It was a family heirloom, and my mother gave it to me when I was 16, telling me to give it to the girl I planned to marry. Needless to say, my younger brother supported me quietly after that.
Freckles on the other hand practically blew up. He turned red with anger when he learned that we were dating. Since he found me intimidating, he had the balls to take his anger out on my girlfriend. Said something along the lines of being a slut and spreading her legs to just anybody. A bad move for him considering that I was a vengeful guy for the people I love, and so, I made his life a living hell the next few days with the help of Freckle’s own twin brothers (who were known pranksters and daredevils). I only stopped because, yes, she asked me to.
Time flew by, before I knew it, it had almost been 3 months since we dated. Our relationship couldn’t be better. No matter what decision she made—whether to stay with me or not—I had no regrets. Throughout the time she allowed us to date, I liked to think that I proved to her that I loved her not just with words, but with actions as well. She never said those words back, not even when I say them to her face. She only smiled and looked away with a blush on her face.
By the time the three month mark came, I anticipated the time she’d approach me and tell me her decision. To my surprise, she never said anything, which was weird because this is my girlfriend we’re talking about her. She’s meticulous and sharp-witted. There was no way she’d forgotten about our three month deal. But then days passed, the three months of our relationship came and went, and she still hadn’t said anything.
Now, I’m normally not an anxious guy, but I was shitting bricks by this point just waiting for her to say anything. When she didn’t, I decided to go to her instead. I went up to her and we basically had this kind of conversation.
Me: Hey baby, do you realize the date today?
Her: Yes, it’s xxxx. Why?
Me: And you didn’t notice anything?
Her: (gives me a confused look)
Me: It’s xxxx… it’s more than three months since we started dating.
Her: yes…? And…?
Me: Didn’t we have a deal about how we would only date for three months to see if you’ll fall in love with me?
Her: Oh, that deal is still on?
Well, it turns out my girlfriend thought that the deal was now invalid since our relationship was as real as it could get. And oh, what do you know, she’s fallen in love with me as well, and didn’t tell me ‘cause she thought I already knew when I clearly didn’t. Needless to say, I almost had a heart attack when she confessed her love for me (I almost did, out of happiness, mind you).
Five years has passed since we started dating. I’m now 23, and she’s 22. We’re still dating. Well, correction: we’re engaged lol. I gave her the heirloom ring when she turned 18, just like I always planned. We’re living together in the same apartment, a gift from both of our parents, with our ugly orange bobcat named Crookshanks that she rescued from the wild. We plan to get married when she graduated. Life couldn’t be better.
EDIT:
Hello, again! Back after five years to edit this comment. I’m 28, she’s 27. We’re still living in our small apartment with our ugly bobcat, Crookshanks, plus our rescued droopy chihuahua named Winky. We got married :) life couldn’t be better.
EDIT #2:
My wife is pregnant! Turns out, life COULD be better. I’m going to be a fucking dad!