Falling in Love Too Easily?

Much like most teenage hopeless romantics stuck in the generation of hook-ups, I fall in love too easily. Why? Because I grew up raised around movies and books that made finding love look so easy. Growing up in a small town where everyone knows everyone, it was far from it.

I had gone my whole high school career dodging the guys' advances, and by the time I graduated I had one body under my belt. I had plenty of boyfriends, just no interest in the physical stuff. I simply wanted love, but not just any kind. I wanted the kind of love that I had seen in "Moulin Rouge!" and "Serendipity". The kind of love that you don't get in a small town, or anywhere, really.

I had tried the online dating scene but had quickly gotten bored. I tried Tinder and went on dates, but all I ever ended up with was a dinner and terrible sexual advances. I still get on it, I still talk to the guys on there, but nothing ever comes of it.

I had given up hope when last summer I had started talking to this guy for months. He had told me that he was "Too busy to get into a relationship". I still started to have feelings for him even though I knew what was going to happen. One day he stopped texting me back until the video I had sent him on Snapchat. He messaged me and said "I started talking to another girl, just so you know."

I cried, not because I truly loved him, but because I had been used again. All the while he was talking to other girls, he had been using me, and I had let him.

I had immediately texted my best friend, of 17 years, and explained the situation to her. She had gone through the same routine with me, telling me how he didn't deserve me. After 3 hours of calming me down I went to sleep a little angry at her and the world. Whoever controls fate had made my soul mate, my best friend and unfortunately neither one of us was gay. The next day I was still a little pissed off. I barely left my room and just ate chocolate all day watching my favorite romance movies, like last time.

I was halfway through "Splash" when I had gotten a friend request from some guy on Snapchat. I accepted it, thinking it was just another guy from Tinder. We'll call him Jon (not his real name). Jon had messaged me as soon as I had accepted it. He had confirmed my theory that he was from Tinder and we hit it off. I had gone over to my friend Dani's (also not her real name) house that night, had posted pictures of her on my story, like all girls.

The next day he snapped me, he was handsome with his green eyes and black curls. But he had told me he knew Dani, and she hated him. I texted her and told her what had happened as soon as he explained to me what happened the day they met. She flipped out on me and refused to talk to me, we haven't talked since.

He had convinced me to go on a date with him, we had gotten pizza and sat in his car and ate it. He was me but as a guy, this time I was a little more hesitant, I didn't want to get hurt. After the date I was on that euphoric high that you get when you've met someone you really connect with. I was so happy, literally nothing could touch me. But then he told me, he was only here visiting his family.

He lived in North Carolina with his mom, and us both only being 19 it didn't bother me. He was only here until Thanksgiving, 2 weeks later. I agreed to see him again later that night and I had then marked my number of bodies to 2. Our next "date" wasn't until the week after and he had taken me to my favorite Chinese buffet. We talked for a good 2 hours, just getting to know each other more. I found out that he was into the same bands, TV shows and movies that I was. He about fell out of his chair when he found out that I cosplayed.

By the end of his stay we had seen each other every day. He had made my life interesting, and full of light again. I wasn't mad, or upset, and I didn't think I was going to die a lonely old woman with my best friend. We still talk every day but to say that it was like when he was here, it's not.

He does come back twice a year so it's not goodbye but when I told my mom about him, she said, "You know Azlyn, I think you might really like this guy." I really hope she's wrong because life isn't like the movies and I don't want to get hurt again.

Until the day that I have my fairy-tale moment I'm going to be a little more cautious with my heart. It's hard and it'll take time but if I can do it, any one can right? I guess we just have to keep trying, and just hope that the generation of hook-ups doesn't snuff out true love.