And they lived happily ever after

Last night I was out late. I went to Perkins for hot
chocolate. It was cold and I couldn't sleep. I had just
been in a fight with my parents.
The couple in the booth behind me were talking. I wasn't
trying to listen, I was trying to read my book, but my ears
couldn't help themselves.
"I don't want to be a statistic" was all she muttered.
I could see their reflection in the window before me.
They looked young. My age if maybe a couple years older or
younger. I couldn't see his face, but her face was sad and
flicking between long stares at him and even longer stares
into the carpet on the floor.
"Well what do you want" he said after a long pause.
"I want you to stop being condesending. You're so damn
cynical."
I am a very cynical person myself. I pride myself on
sarcasm. She was calling my character into question by
accusing his own. I wanted to leap from my booth and
say, "what's wrong with that? Why is cynical bad? Being
fucking Betty Crocker and hoping rainbows continually shoot
out your ass isn't all it's cracked up to be."
Instead I slunk lower in my booth. Ashamed of myself for
listening in on what was obviously a private conversation.
I went back to my book. I read the same paragraph four
times. Each time it made less sense than it did the time
before.
Is this marriage?
Her voice was with out rage. She spat a few words at
him, but she was not hysterical. I pictured myself in the
same situation rocking back and forth and sucking my thumb,
but she seemed to be handling it all with a calm resolve. I
admired, envied, and pittied her all at once.
His voice was deep but soft. Inaudible most of the time.
I could just hear a deep rumbling behind me when he did
talk. He ordered cheesecake and was silent most of the time.
"What? Are you just going to sit there? You know we
could have stayed at home and I could have stared at you
there" Aside from the explosive "what", again her voice was
icy and withdrawn.
Is this the tone of failure?
"I dunno what you want"
"You're not the man I fell in love with. Or rather the
boy who used to sit across from me."
This struck me as a bit dramatic. This woman was
obviously near my age and yet I constantly refer to myself
as a girl. Perhaps he was still a boy. Peter Pan? Perhaps
she wanted him to grow up.
"I thought I would marry a man I would have deep
conversations with...I thought I would be with someone who
could think up romantic get-aways on his own"
These words hit my eardrums and fell into my lap. That's
what I have always envisioned. The fairytale soulmate of
hollywood and hallmark invention. He knows what your
thinking, you stay up late into the evening talking about
the meaning of life, and you have wrestling matches teamed
with cuddle sessions in the mountain top getaway he
surprised you with at work by sending you flowers and a
note. Perhaps she and I are the ones who need to grow up?
Does this mean "I do" doesn't translate into "and they
lived happily ever after"?
"You hated the time we went camping. I was embarassed. I
mean you say you're not a girl who needs much, but you
obviously can't rough it. I had to listen to you whine all
weekend about how gross it was"
Their blue black silouhettes in the window glass sat
motionless. She refused to meet his stare.
"We could take the bikes...hit the state parks. We could
just take off. Friday, saturday, sunday, monday. It'd be
fun."
"I can't take that much time off" She said as an
exasperated moan.
"We'll leave friday night and come home sunday night
then"
"You don't get it..."
"...No I don't" He didn't say it with anger. There was
no biting displeasure. There was no hurt in his voice, nor
any passion. It was just stated as a matter of fact.
Apparantly neither of them got each other.
Does anyone get anybody?
Maybe this is what you get when you marry a beautiful
girl. She has been treated like a princess all her life and
expects her husband to become Ken. She wants to be wisked
off in a pink convertible to a stable by sea so they can
ride their horses Nightshade, and Dreamwalker on the
moonlit beach.
Maybe this is what you get when your a good looking guy
and your brain just isn't wired into that hollywood romance.
I've made up my mind. It's better to marry the ugly.
Ugly girls have never had romance and don't expect it. Ugly
guys have never had an opportunity to be in love and go all
out to flex their romantic muscle. Ugly people cling to
whatever whisp of affection wafts past them.
I always thought I would be happy if I could just be in
a stable relationship. I could show someone how big my
heart is, and life would be rainbows and bubblegum. I
always thought if I could just get married I would be
happy. To have someone by my side in sickness and in
health. It doesn't work that way tho.
The waitress brought me my change. I slipped my recipt
into my book as a bookmark. That same paragraph still not
comprehended. Much more of my life was uncomprehensible as
well.