Page 59 of Clichés & Curses

She nodded.

‘Well, there seems to be a pattern in how my parents got together and how Eliza and Nathan did,’ I continued. ‘Both their relationships had started out by partnering up for something: my parents back in high school, and my sister at her workplace.’

Nina just sat there, slowly taking bites of her food as she took in my words. ‘Okay,’ she said, giving me a nod, and silently asking for me to continue.

I sighed. ‘Another similarity they bore was that there had been an element of the cliché love interest in the relationship. For my parents, it was the bad boy cliché love interest. My mom was what people considered the “good girl” in high school. You know, the one who follows the rules, hands in her homework on time, and rarely gets into trouble. While my dad was the totalopposite, he was the “bad boy”, breaking the rules and missing most of the classes. And of course, like any love story with a cliché love interest, they got together, got married, and had two kids. They were supposed to live happily ever after.’

‘But they didn’t,’ Nina said.

‘But they didn’t,’ I repeated. ‘Instead, they got divorced, and it pretty much fractured my illusion of a happy ending. But then, one day, my sister brought someone home to meet the family. He was a colleague of hers and they had been paired for an assignment together. Sounds normal, but the cliché part? There were work rivals: always staying later than the other person to get ahead. But, of course, as a love story with a cliché love interest, they ended up getting along well and falling in love. When they got engaged, I thought maybe such stories do last. Though that hope didn’t last very long, when they decided to call off the engagement three months later.’

I composed myself. ‘I know it sounds crazy, but maybe my family is cursed. Maybe we’re just not meant to have relationships with cliché love interests.’

‘And you’re scared of the same thing happening with you and Colton?’ Nina asked.

I scoffed. ‘I’m paired up with my crush who’s the college star baseball player—the cliché writes itself. I mean, technically, the curse wouldn’t work if we just stayed friends and it’s not like he likes me back. And even if he does, nothing can happen between us. I won’t let the curse get in the way of us dooming what we have now. But has that stopped my heart from liking him? Nope. Now, I just have to live with this feeling, and know that we can only ever be friends.’

I continued. ‘Why did he tick all the boxes in a checklist I didn’t even know I had and also be a star athlete?’ I groaned out, putting both of my elbows on the kitchen island, my head between my hands. ‘You must think I’m childish to believe insomething stupid like this.’ I breathed out a laugh, hearing how ridiculous it sounded, now that I was saying it out loud to another person.

I waited for Nina to laugh along with me, but she just stayed silent. As the silence continued to stretch on, I held my breath, scared of what words would come out of her mouth.

But her reply came in the best way possible.

She got up from her seat and put her arms around me, embracing me in a massive hug. ‘Thank you for telling me,’ she said, her arms gripping me tighter.

‘You don’t think I’m being ridiculous?’ I asked her, feeling vulnerable over the conversation.

I couldn’t see her, but I could feel she was shaking her head. ‘Definitely not. I think you’re right to believe in something like this, especially after seeing what happened with your family. So no, I don’t think you’re being ridiculous.’

I don’t know how long we stayed like that, me just staying in her embrace. When she finally pulled away, I felt lighter than I did before.

‘So, what happens now?’ Nina then asked.

‘I don’t know,’ I said with a shrug. ‘I mean, although Colton and I might never happen, at least, I’ll have the memory of Saturday night to hold on to.’

At that, she arched her brow at me. ‘So, it was his jacket then,’ she pointed out.

A smile automatically appeared on my face at the mention of his baseball jacket. ‘Yes, it was.’

And that was how we spent the rest of our night: two best friends at the kitchen counter, a pizza in one hand, and a Sprite in the other, as I giddily recalled the wonderful moments of that fateful night.

After we finished our pizza, we cleared whatever trash we had and went over to the living room to continue ourGilmore Girlsrewatch from Saturday. I decided to go through my phone while Nina set it up, and I found Colton texted me back about an hour ago.

Colton:

If you do that, I’ll make sure to hit a home run.

Just for you.

‘Are you ready?’ I heard Nina ask from beside me.

‘One second,’ I answered, quickly sending a text to Colton.

Clara:

Then I’ll be sure to send you that text.

Once I made sure it was sent, I locked my phone and said, ‘I’m ready.’

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