aurora is a simple girl. she may dress strangely, speak oddly, and look a bit off, but her mind works just like every other girl. she wants to get married and have a few kids and give everyone around her the best life she can provide. she wants the suburban dream, just like a lot of people in america.
bernard, however, is a bit more complicated. he's a very casual and relaxed person around most people. you could say he was likable, outgoing, charming, or all of the above. on the inside, however, he wanted to be different from those around him. he lived by stereotypes, and did so in such a way that he neglected what he really felt and believed on the inside. nonetheless, young bernie strived to surround himself with only the most interesting of people, and that was how he came to know aurora.
over time, bernard noticed how normal aurora was. he saw that she obsessed over taylor swift, read seventeen magazine, and watched hours of netflix at a time. it was quite strange to bernard, mainly because he pegged her as the type to like rare indie-folk bands and read poetry in her freetime.
the twenty-three year old man came to this revelation as he was going with aurora to get starbucks at the target a block away from his apartment complex. they'd just stepped foot in the parking lot when he finally said something.
"you're pretty normal, you know."
"what?" aurora said, head snapping in his direction. her hair was up in a bunch of tight, small buns on her head, so that her long hair didn't hit bernard. on the way there, he was counting the little knots of hair. he'd totaled nine, if you counted the discreet tangle on the very back of her head.
"i thought you'd be some sort of girl that liked obscure music and read things by shakespeare 24/7 or something, but you're pretty, i don't know," he shrugged, "basic."
"is that supposed to be an insult or compliment?" aurora said in her high-pitched voice. it sounded alien-like to bernard, and that was another reason why he thought that she'd be unique.
once again, bernard shrugged, looking at aurora with a sideways glance. her nose was pretty slopey, he noticed, and her mouth came out a lot compared to her face. she looked a little bit like a fox, bernie decided, with her brightly died orange hair and narrow eyes.
"you know," aurora began once they were halfway through the parking lot, "you look like a lowkey frat boy, but you're full of interesting facts about different countries and nature."
"is that supposed to be an insult or a compliment?"
"shut up," aurora said rolling her eyes playfully at the taller guy. aurora was a staggering 9 inches shorter than bernard, nearly 5'4. bernard really disliked the height difference between them, mainly because he could never hear what she was saying (bernard had horrible hearing) and would rather be an elf than a giant. after a while, aurora broke him from his thoughts, commenting, "i think you should take that as a compliment. frat boys are usually really sleazy anyways."
bernard smiled, and replied sheepishly, "i don't know if you should take what i said as a compliment, though. i usually go for the quirky girls."
aurora spun her head around the same way she had earlier, except this time with a death glare. "is that what you want? huh? the 'manic pixie dream girl' that's straight out of a john green novel?" her tone was toxic, a huge change from the usual serene one.
"well i mean --" bernie hesitated. "look, i don't know what i want anymore. i just want more than the run of the mill girl, you know? i looked at you and thought, 'here's someone who is different, she'll probably keep me on my toes."
aurora raised her eyebrow skeptically. "look, just because i dress nonconventionally doesn't mean that i don't want what everybody else wants." by now, the pair had just stepped foot in the parking lot, and their voices were getting louder. "don't follow the stereotypes, bernard."
"i know, i know. it's just that i was raised on stereotypes. it's honestly ridiculous how often people live by stereotypes."
"well that's what you're doing right now, bernard!" the shorter girl shouted, giving the taller boy a glare.
"look, look, i know i'm hypocritical, it's just my thoughts are all messed up and jumbled, but i really consider myself a good person. i was so caught up i stereotypes that i assumed tha every typical girl went by the stereotypes as well, and-"
"bernard, please just shut up. i really like having you around, and i get what your saying, but each time you screw it around, okay? the lesson here is that stereotypes don't mean anything and that what a person has inside them counts, not anything on the outside. got it?"
bernard nodded vigourously, deciding that he would call that girl he met at the gym afterwards. "that's what i was going to say."
