Modern Women — Relationships
I’ve Never Been Romantically Loved
And I’m Not Okay With It — Yet
Watching a lot of teen rom-com movies growing up led me to form one conclusion: ‘if I want to be happy in high school, I must get myself a boyfriend.’
When I discovered I was bisexual at the age of 14, I quickly added ‘or girlfriend’ to this conclusion without any hesitation. I even thought I’d managed to succeed in getting one — before it became clear to me that a fellow teenager saying ‘yes’ to your offer of going out and then increasingly ignoring you does not constitute a relationship. I can remember seeing primary school romances that had more substance.
Lo and behold, I left school at the age of 18 having never been romantically loved. And, at the start of a lockdown that would last far longer than anyone expected, there was expectation that the situation would be rectified any time soon.
Now I’m 22 years old, a university student — and, despite my efforts, I have still never been in a relationship. I’ve never even been kissed.
This is not the vision of the future that 13-year-old me imagined for myself.
