When I first found myself swimming in the deep ends of Young Adult romance, I ran into an idea that seemed so entirely fictional that I labeled it so and left it at that. Right love at the wrong time. It was ridiculous. How could you find the most wonderful thing at the wrong time? It made sense to me that you could make the “wrong time” the right time through some kind of determination and perseverance. Because why not? If two people loved each other, why would something as simple as high school or the like just ruin that?

 I've always been too optimistic for my own good.

 We were fourteen and the future was both alarmingly bleak and blindingly positive. If we were characters in a sappy romance, I would have undoubtedly been the doe-eyed skittish one who fell apart like moon sand whenever he was around. If I could possibly categorize him, he would have been the poetic one who said things like, “I never truly lived before I met you.” We would have probably belonged in some low budget, cheesy titled movie with lots of indie rock background music and references to underrated musicals. In every possible outcome I could see, our movie would end with an upbeat Beatles song and a fading image of us walking away, hand in hand.

 The problem with fiction is that I've always believed in it too heavily. On a written page, overcoming something like inescapable relationship struggles was incredibly easy. An I love you could pause the world and a kiss could put all the broken pieces back together. When our five-star movie crashed and burned at the hands of typical teen angst and panic attacks, I remembered that idea. If we had met at twenty-four, with our teenage years already behind us, all of the promises would hold together like a perfectly crafted machine. Instead, our paths crossed too early. The future was built on hope and the belief that we could do it, we could make it. While I can't tell what the future may be, or if we'll have a novel-worthy ending, I do know that, at least for now, him and I are just another cliché.