The Dreams of our Youthful Days

The Beginning

Do you believe in fairytales? I guess not, most people don't, I did not either, that was until the day mine began as little girls we dreams of the happily ever afters and the prince on a white horse sweeping us off our feet not so? However as we grow and mature we understand that the picture perfect love that we dreamt of is impossible. However the saving grace is that love does not have to be perfect, it just has to be true. I'm not asking you to believe in love just because I say so but I want you to go through the journey of my life with me and when you're finished then tell me if you believe. Sit back and get ready as I take you through the pages of my life; Let's go!

Chapter one; at eighteen years of age age, there I was, a love hating, cold- hearted teenager. My friends even joked that I was allergic to love, but while they were bust falling in love, I was standing right behind catching them so they don't hurt from the fall.

I read once "Don't marry the man who makes your heart race and your palms sweaty because you will always lose yourself your control around him. this was my holy grail for years until I met the guy I would later spend my life with; obviously I did not know that back then. I mean of course I found him attractive but come on, look at him, who wouldn't? However I did not fall for him at that point but that did not mean we could not be friends and so our love story began. We were friends for  a while, two years to be exact and my fondest memories are not the deep conversations but the silly things together not caring about people's opinions. The best of friends nut never anything more until 'that day.' The day it all changed and that became the day and the decision that wrote my future. 

The tides began to change for me maybe two or three months before but love; have you ever heard the term just too close to love you? This is how I felt like if I looked into the feelings that were developing then it will mess up the special and one of a kind friendship so I brushed it off and moved along. 

A survey done by 50 male- female best friend pairs proved that the other person can tell if you're in love with them since the pair is so close. I thought well clearly he does not feel the same way because I had not noticed any changes in behaviour or conversation but the truth is I was too busy falling in love with him to notice the signs. 

One night as we were leaving the movie, he parked the car and started telling me about how much he needs our friendship and that it has become a necessity in his life. He's running his hand through his hair and I'm counting the colours in his eyes thinking damn I might just be in love with him.

Remember the man I told you about earlier? The one you should not marry? Well I lost all control of myself and the words just fell out like a river flowing downstream. "Listen, I know this is going to change the dynamic of us and I am sorry if it ruins our friendship but I think I'm falling in love with you and it's either I tell you or I stop talking to you without an explanation. Trust me when I say that took every ounce of my courage but I had to get it out but boy was I afraid of his response. 

After about fifty second (yeah I counted them), he finally opened his mouth and there I am, holding back my tears because somehow I had already convinced myself that he did not feel the same way. This is the moment of truth, the one I had been thinking of for weeks, what would he say? Then in his calm, quiet voice I heard; "what took you so long?" 

I sat there thinking what could that mean? A few minutes past, I literally counted 180 seconds of silence until the suspense was too much and I blurted out "what the heck does that mean?" He replied "I've been in love with you for the past six months and I've never had the courage to say it until now!" The feeling I had at that moment was indescribable, it's one that I had never felt before, the feeling of utter satisfaction perhaps. As the words rolled off his tongue, my mind began to drift and wander into the endless possibilities of what could happen now. I was brought back to reality by him calling out to me and asking "so what'd say? Let's give this new dimension of emotions a try and make it official?" Well you helpless romantics out here know your girl said yes immediately ans with a gentle yet oh so passionate kiss, we began the epic love story of Cleo and Aiden. 

Chapter two; fast forward a year later and we're still together but now we are finally ready to make it public, it was time to meet each others' parents. I know what you're thinking, their best friends I'm sure their parents know them but this time it was different. It was the first time we would be meeting them as a couple. My parents invited his parents and his two sisters to have dinner at our house with them, my brother and I as per usual every third Saturday. Their first words after we revealed our relationship to them were; "well it is about damn time you both realize what we knew since the inception of the friendship." 

Our relationship now became public, we got alot of the same reactions however some people thought that it was just a side effect of us being together all the time and that we would soon get bored and break up; well we showed them alright! A year turned into two, then three; three years of hiccups, little heartbreaks and fights but also three years of growing and maturing in that pure, unblemished love. I t definitely had not been three years of perfect love but if we search for perfection we will never be happy because perfection is simply unattainable. Jasmine married a common thief and Belle fell in love with a beast, how can you expect perfect love when it does not even exist in fairytales.

Chapter three; at this point, I am twenty- three, just weeks away from my twenty- fourth birthday and we had big plans to go to the beautiful island of Barbados with our friends. Weeks turned into days and days into hours until it was finally time to go. Had I know how the events of that trip would have unfolded, I would have never even boarded that flight. 

The trip was going splendid, alot of adventures and memories but most of all I got to spend my birthday with the love of my life again and that was a tremendous blessing. We left Barbados Monday afternoon and by Tuesday morning I had 50 missed calls from Aiden, 10 from his mum and numerous calls and messages from my parents and brother all while I was asleep. Before I could open those messages or return those calls a wave of panic and fear overcame me as I was baffled by what this could be about. I called Aiden and I could hear the frustration in his voice as he told me that Derek send everyone a photo of us in his room, on his bed during our trip saying that I had cheated on my boyfriend with him in Barbados. I did not freak out or crash, I used my anger and hurt to fuel me to prove my innocence.

The photo Derek had was a photo he asked to take to post for my birthday with the both of us. I had made plans to meet my friend Kiyah at the pool and told her I'd grab Derek on the way since they had been chatting up for weeks. As we were talking I sat on the bed while Derek got his things and i started making a snapchat video; at that very time, he asked for the picture and I had everything on that video. He did not know still had it though since I never posted it but Thank God I saved it. I showed the video and the messages with Kiyah to everyone and cleared my name. My love never doubted me, he stood by me and defended me against his mother's unkind words and everyone's nasty stares. The brunt of his family's hostile treatment lingered abit but I chose to forgive and forget; I even forgave Derek. Aiden however could not forgive Derek for his betrayal and well that was the end of that friendship.