Rollercoaster in 4 acts

‘’Can you keep a secret?’’ he asked me.

‘’Of course.’’ I replied without hesitating just to convince him to tell me.

After I heard it I was sure I was never going to tell his secret to anyone else, because no one would believe me. 

I knew Jacob for almost three years now and I would have never imagined he was hiding something like that. We met on our first day of college and after that day, our relationship was like an emotional rollercoaster. 

We were both going to study psychology. I chose this because I wanted to help people, he chose this because he wanted to learn how to manipulate them. I was from a small town, he is a big city guy. My Friday night activity would be to watch Netflix or read, he is always looking for parties or hookups. 

I will tell you our story in 4 parts so it will be easier for you to understand. Don’t read the titles of the parts if you don’t want spoilers. Oops, I guess someone doesn’t have a high level of auto-control. If you didn’t read them, ignore the previous sentence, and feel good about yourself. 

1. The hate

It was the first day of college, I was very nervous. I didn’t know anyone, all the people around me looked like the kind of people I wouldn’t be friends with. One person stood out because he was exactly the kind of person I would hate to be around. That was Jacob. He seemed arrogant, rich, and rude. And the worst of all: ignorant. I know all this because he was with his friends talking about his new car, and I asked him if this is the building where the welcoming ceremony is and his response was just a glance of superiority. He didn’t answer anything. I was shocked and disappointed to meet this kind of person. And I had to stand him for at least 3 years. At that moment I knew I had to stay away from him as much as possible and I hated him until...

1. The love

Christmas was close. I was very happy that I could celebrate it with my family and friends from home. At college, I didn’t have friends yet and didn’t have the hope that I will make some soon. That day started great because it snowed and I really get a positive vibe when I see everything around me white and shiny. It was also the day we gave our presents for Secret Santa and after that, I had to catch the train to go home. It’s a little bit childish, I didn’t like my colleagues, and I never receive a gift as nice as the one I give, but for some reason, it made me really excited. I had to give a gift to Ema, she is a nice girl but I didn’t know her very well. I made her a bracelet and a greeting card and bought her a scented candle. I was curious about who has me, but I didn’t have high expectations. I just hoped it wasn’t Jacob because I’ve been avoiding him and silently hating him. When it was his turn I said in my mind a million times ‘’Not me’’ before he said the name. It wasn’t my name so I was extremely happy, but I was also surprised that he gave a book. I couldn’t imagine him buying a book, maybe he re-gifted it because he is an ignorant idiot that doesn’t need books. Ema liked the gift and I received some cute socks, so everything was perfect. I was going to the train station when I saw on my app that my train was canceled because of the storm. That meant that I wouldn’t be home for Christmas. I imagined my favorite holiday spent alone in my dorm and I couldn’t stop my tears. When I was trying to wipe them, I bumped into Jacob. I was expecting him to laugh at me or in the best-case scenario to ignore me. But he seemed worried. He asked me what it’s wrong and when I told him the situation he offered to take me home in his car. I almost said no, thinking that I have to spend two hours on the road with him, but then I thought of Toulouse, my dog, and of the festive dinner, so I accepted. The road trip was unexpectedly nice, there were just a few moments of awkward silence. We discovered that we both love Trixie Mattel and we sang her country songs. The only fight we had wasn’t really a fight, just a contradictory discussion about who is more superior, cats or dogs. He has 5 cats at home and he told me everything about them, which was kind of sweet. During that ride, I realized he has a soft side and he isn’t that bad. I spent my Christmas holiday having a crush on him, thinking about us together, wondering what will happen when we will start school again.

1. The friendship

After the holiday, I was expecting something magical to happen between us, I was expecting him to ask me on a date or something. But he didn’t even seem to notice me or to remember our, very romantic * in my imagination*, car ride. I tried to spend as much time as I could around him, we had a couple of group projects together and a few parties. That’s right, I went to parties. I started to integrate into college life. During this time my crush started to fade away as we developed a strong and weird friendship. It was like we knew each other for all of our lives, like we were siblings or soul mates. We were very different and had many fights, but insignificant and we really trusted each other and felt comfortable to be ourselves.

1. The secret 

And this brings us to the present. 

‘’Can you keep a secret?’’

‘’Of course.’’

‘’Well… you know… do you remember our first car ride?’’

‘’Sure. What about it?’’

‘’I think you were right. Dogs are superior.’’

‘’ wooow, I can’t believe you *YOU* just said that!’’

‘’I know, I know. I didn’t believe this day would come either, but I spent some time with a dog and now I understand why they are god spelled backward. ’’

‘’I’m proud of you.’’

‘’Thanks, Viktor.’’

So after all these years of pretending, Jacob is a dog person. He might become my crush again.