We’re both weird, but not quite in the same ways. I was completely smitten from the first day I met him, only to discover he had married the love of his life the week earlier.
—Alaska
Postscript: We’ll never be lovers, but it’s been worth it just to know him.
It was New Year’s Eve, and we were drunk. We made out in her kitchen while her mom was arguing with our annoying Russian friend. She told me she loved me, and I said “I love you, too.” And I meant it. We dated in secret until the end of high school. During our first year at separate colleges, I broke up with her, not realizing it would be me with the broken heart.
—Regretta
Postscript: I’ve always wondered what my life would be like had we never split up.
“Will you be my special friend?” he asked me one hot Texas summer night. We’d known each other for months, and I was already in love with him. We shared an awkward kiss and then sprawled on his backyard. The next year he moved to Chicago, and we sent mixed tapes and letters back and forth. He returned the next year so we could merge our mixed tapes. Two years later he convinced me to move back to Chicago with him. He dumped me the next year.
—Zooey
Postscript: Yet another year has gone by. We’re still friends, but neither of us has found a new special friend.
I discovered physical love with him. He was funny and original. We were married for 17 years. We had two children together. During our marriage, sourness began to overtake the sweetness, and I was relieved when it was over.
—Maria
Postscript: We’re forever bound by our children and remain friends.
I saw a cute guy dressed in white pants, a black-and-white checkered shirt, and a white sailor’s cap. His smile melted me. I saw him every day about the same hour, usually at dusk. I was in love with him, but he had all sorts of girlfriends, and I just knew I would never be one of them.
He left our hometown three years later to go to boarding school in Portugal, and we started corresponding. In one of his letters, he told me he regretted not having really known me. I would occasionally return to Portugal to visit my family, but I never visited the bank where he was the president, fearing the old feelings of love would return.
—Lauri
Postscript: After he passed away, it was my turn to regret never having gone into the bank to see him.
I broke up with my then-boyfriend, who wrote about his feelings on his LiveJournal. A guy I barely knew read it and sent me a message on instant messenger asking if I wanted to go out sometime. We went to see The Incredibles. I thought I was going on a rebound date, but he was so easy to love that just a few weeks later, I realized I was going to marry him.
—Alison
Postscript: We’ve been married two years now, and he’s become even easier to love.
A boring night of serving drinks turned into a life-changing event, when a boy walked into my bar and caught my eye. When he later introduced himself, I found out he was from Chicago and played drums in one of the bands that would be playing the show I was working that night. I discovered his band was one I had loved for years.
After we spent all night awkwardly flirting with each other, I thought to myself, “Now, why can’t I meet a guy like this?” but quickly realized, “Wait! I did!” We spent the rest of the night/early morning talking and falling hard for each other. Two weeks later, we split the cost of a plane ticket for me to fly from Philadelphia to Chicago for a visit.
—Lychee
Postscript: Almost four years later, I’ll have lived in Chicago for three years, and we’re still going strong.
