Ella Ceron

Other people expect 20-somethings to be messy. They expect us to be sloppy and awkward and gangly because in their hearts, they know they were, too.

I mean, Sirius spent 12 years in a prison for a crime he didn’t commit. I think he’s allowed to be a little emotionally distant in bed.

The habits of trying to make yourself look as presentable as possible are still as deeply ingrained in you as they were when you were awkward and gangly and had acne, except now you’re nursing a phantom limb.

But when you almost date someone, something will give. Somehow the ends don’t meet. Either they meet someone new while you’re biding your time, or they move, or they just disappear.

But when you let someone settle for you, when you wait until they’re ready and they’ve decided and everything is on their terms, there’s always the nagging suspicion that maybe you’re still not quite everything they want.

Either you dudes are way, way braver in every single way, or you honestly don’t notice when the shower curtain starts collecting mold. HOW?!

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who find this song absurdly catchy, and liars.

“Does that mean you only date other people with tattoos?”

If you go out to dinner, your parents will probably pay. (But if you’re doing alright financially, you should pay. It’ll feel really good to treat the people who changed your diapers and put up with that whole teenager phase.)

Now, here’s the thing—you can’t just outright give your scrappy 20-something a job with their dream employer. They will want to earn it (as well they should).

Listen, if you’re not gonna be a nun or something, you might as well laugh.

We couldn’t let everything fall to fate, and hope that infatuation alone would keep us afloat. I would have to learn how to be patient, and there would be things about me you’d find less than wonderful, too.