The Brighter Side of Life

Chapter 4

Crush? I most certainly did not have a crush on Ayah Abasi. What a prosperous notion.

I'm one of the practical guys! I refuse to let the concept of "love" take over my life like all those people on TV. They're willing to throw everything away for someone who they may not even still be with in a few months. But, of course, that's not what the movies show.

They're happy to give us false hope by showing us the stopping-of-the-wedding, or when the nerdy guy finally plucks up the courage to confess his love at prom, or when that seemingly uptight woman finally allows herself to maybe like the funny guy at work even though she doesn't trust guys ever since her ex cheated.

Cue the smile and the "I'm so in love with you" eyes, and then a love song with a moderate beat plays as the camera zooms out just enough to see the beautiful surrounding area and then we see that the hour and thirty minute hunk of cliché was made by a director that I'm certainly not going to google when I get home.

And then what happens afterwards? What happens after the bride/groom runs away with someone that they're not marrying? Someone still has to pay for the wedding. Imagine the embarrassment, the sympathetic stares of the guests, having to be the one to make the phone call to cancel the honeymoon.

Or the nerdy guy who in real life would be no competition for the girls' boyfriend, because she's with him for a reason and not every varsity football player is a complete douche.

And the woman that finally allows herself to trust pins expectations on the guy straight away because she thinks he's "different", and he slips up once and then BAM! she's lost a good guy because she was too quick to add him to the 'ex- list'.

And don't even get me started on the idea that there's 'someone out there for everyone', because you'd think people would have better judgment on who this person is instead of having a 50% divorce rate.

Breathe, Reece, just breathe.

So, after hearing my (somewhat cynical) thoughts, do you seriously believe that I would even let myself have a crush?

Again, I repeat: a preposterous notion.

"Dante you have to help me help me now." I said hurriedly, bursting into his room and leaping on his bed. I almost hit my head on the top bunk, which Maggie had yet to remove since he wasn't sharing a room with his little brother Tyrell anymore.

"Reece?" Dante asked, a little startled, but not awake enough to to realise what was going on. He looked at his phone. "It's freaking 6am, why would you wake me up 30 minutes early when you know I won't be able to get back to sleep? That's straight up evil, man."

He punched me on the shoulder, and I swiftly ignored the pain, the news inside me too seemingly important to let a sloppy (but effective) punch get in the way.

"One: haha your hairs a mess mate." I chuckled, never wanting to miss an opportunity to make fun of the lad. I simply smiled at the annoyance prominent on his face."Swiftly moving on to the second point, I have news."

"The world better be ending, otherwise I'm going to smother you with this pillow." He grumbled, sitting up  straight and resting his torso against the small headboard.

"I've already called Kenny, he'll be here in a few sec-"

The painfully slow creaking of Dante's door made me stop in my tracks to look at a cautious Kenny trying to tiptoe in as quietly as possible, and failing in the process.