Love letters, they’re meant to be a symbol of love, where once can express their infatuations or admiration for another. Who knew that the story of my first love all started with a misunderstanding and a love letter.
Senior year of high school, beginning of December two weeks until winter break. It was exactly a year that I had realized I had feelings for the one and only Jason Nguyen. I fell in love with his gummy smile, terrible jokes and how he was passionate about his future. Everything was going fine between the two of us, everyone predicted the two of us would become official, advance to Nationals for UIL together, go to prom together and even attend the same college the following fall. That came crashing down, turns out my friend Judy was talking to him without me knowing. The two of them becoming friends was no problem, instead, the issue was that the two of them had developed feelings for one another, even though they knew of my feelings for Jason.
That winter was cold from what I remembered. For the first time in years, it had snowed in the great state of Texas. I spent most of my days inside, watching my favorite movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before and playing League of Legends to distract myself from the mess my life had become. Not only did I lose the guy I had fallen for, but I lost faith in my own friend. In short, I became a shut-in. After the nth time of watching To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before I decided to write my first love letter, thinking that it would give me the closure I needed, I addressed and stamped it before stowing it away between the spines of my books on the bookshelf. What I didn’t know would be that the letter would eventually reach Jason.
On the day we came back from winter break, I was chatting to my two friends that I trusted, Kailee and Alyssa. I had just got back from my trip to North Carolina with my mom the night before and while telling them of my trip when I paused as I saw Jason strutting down the hall towards us. See after Judy had confessed to me about her relationship with Jason, I stopped talking to both of them, to get over him.
“Can we talk?” Jason stopped in front of me. Kailee and Alyssa had sensed me becoming tense and started throwing glares at him. “Alone?” Jason asked. Examining him closer, my eyes grew wide as I saw what was in his hand, a mint green envelope with gold washi tape on the edges, the same envelope I had used to seal the love letter I had written him.
“I, yea” I choked out and started to follow Jason down the hall.
“Rosie! Where are you going? I’m supposed to walk you to your first period remember?” A firm hand grabbed my wrist and spun me around into a strong embrace before I could register what was happening.
“I’m sorry?” Jason asked
The arms had let go of me and I looked up, it was no other than Brandon Kim. “Hey man, if you need to speak to my girlfriend speak to me first,” he spoke sternly at Jason.
“What?” Both Jason and I stammered in unison.
“Come on, let’s go, babe,” Brandon took my hand in his before leading me off in the opposite direction of Jason, leaving him there just as shocked as I was. It wasn’t until we were on the bleachers of the football field that he stopped.
“Okay what was that all about?” I asked him.
“Helping you.”
“From?”
“That love letter you wrote.”
“Wait how do you know?” I asked, only I know about the letter because I was the only one who wrote it and even then I hid it where it shouldn’t have been found.
Brandon sighed, “I happened to hear him talking to a certain someone about the letter. So me being the good person I am, saving you from embarrassment.”
“Well gee thanks, but this has nothing to do with you.”
“No, but it will soon. Be my fake girlfriend.”
“I’m sorry what?” I looked around to see if there was some hidden camera around, “Am I being pranked?”
“I’m being serious, I believe that both of us can benefit from this. You’ll get back at Jason for choosing Judy over you and I’ll get what I want.”
“Exactly what is it that you want?”
“Revenge,” his face turned serious.
“Elaborate?”
“Start of high school Jason and I have been friends since I moved here. I met my first girlfriend through a couple of mutual friends, things were great. Junior year she broke up with me, next day I see her and Jason on a date. Talked to him about it, apparently, they were talking to each other for months,” he shrugged, “I ended up cutting ties with the both of them.”
“Okay but that has nothing to do with me and my love letter.”
“Kind of does. See, what I’m thinking is how would Jason feel that his close friend that he possibly could have dated, falls in love for his ex-friend whose girlfriend he stole? Guilty?”
“Deal,” I didn’t hesitate, “But we have to make a contract,” I pulled out a paper and pen from my backpack. “Oh my God, this is going to be like To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before,” I squealed.
“To All The what?” Brandon asked.
“You know, rom-com where the quirky girl fake dates the hot jock so her actual crush that she can’t date thinks that she doesn’t like him,” I quickly explained.
“Never heard of it.”
“Oh goodness, alright first agreement is that we have to watch To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before together,” I wrote.
“Only if we also watch The Bodyguard right after.”
I rolled my eyes, “Fine.”
Although we were late to first period, the two of us sat on the bleachers for another 30 minutes finalizing our contract marking the start of our fake relationship. Our fake relationship was smooth sailing and believable. I would go to his soccer games and cheer him on and he would go to every one of my science club meetings that I was conducting with boba tea. We both joined the League of Legends esports team together and play bottom lane on the team that pleased the coach as we had what he called great synergy with one another.
Jason and Judy started to break things off with one another, the two of them who were nearly always together started to see each other less and less.
April 15th. Brandon had brought us two tickets to Camp Nowhere, as part of the contract states that both of us would have to attend concerts together. Luckily for both of us, we both enjoy the artist, Said The Sky. To our luck, Jason was also going along with his group of friends. Although it was a music festival with over three hundred attendees, somehow Jason was merely a few feet away from us.
The strobe lights hit every inch of the venue as everyone banged their heads to the beat. As Said The Sky played his song Potions, Brandon turned me towards him.
“I love you, Rosie Le,” he stared intently at me before kissing my forehead.
“Hey,” Jason shouts before pulling Brandon away from me, “Not cool man.”
Before I could process what was happening Brandon swung at Jason hitting him square in the jaw. Jason staggered back up ready to return one but luckily his friends quickly pulled him away before the commotion got any bigger.
The ride back home was silent, just as we had reached my house Brandon turned to me, “Listen what I said earlier I meant it,” he sighed.
“No,” I shook my head, “No Brandon, this is all just a misunderstanding, it all started with a misunderstanding which is why we made the contract and I don’t know.” I sighed, “The day we end this, by morning you’ll forget about me and everything.” I immediately left afterward. It wasn’t until I was in my room that I had realized I was crying. Thinking back to all the memories we had made together even though they were meant to be fake, I enjoyed them. I didn’t know why I cried so much that night, was it because I was still in love with Jason? Was I not ready to let go? No. It took me a few days to realize, I cried because I was truly in love with Brandon. I had finally found someone that would dedicate as much of their time and affection to me as I would to them, someone that would give me the validation I would need from time to time, someone that wouldn’t do anything to break my trust.
Senior year of high school, beginning of December two weeks until winter break. It was exactly a year that I had realized I had feelings for the one and only Jason Nguyen. I fell in love with his gummy smile, terrible jokes and how he was passionate about his future. Everything was going fine between the two of us, everyone predicted the two of us would become official, advance to Nationals for UIL together, go to prom together and even attend the same college the following fall. That came crashing down, turns out my friend Judy was talking to him without me knowing. The two of them becoming friends was no problem, instead, the issue was that the two of them had developed feelings for one another, even though they knew of my feelings for Jason.
That winter was cold from what I remembered. For the first time in years, it had snowed in the great state of Texas. I spent most of my days inside, watching my favorite movie To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before and playing League of Legends to distract myself from the mess my life had become. Not only did I lose the guy I had fallen for, but I lost faith in my own friend. In short, I became a shut-in. After the nth time of watching To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before I decided to write my first love letter, thinking that it would give me the closure I needed, I addressed and stamped it before stowing it away between the spines of my books on the bookshelf. What I didn’t know would be that the letter would eventually reach Jason.
On the day we came back from winter break, I was chatting to my two friends that I trusted, Kailee and Alyssa. I had just got back from my trip to North Carolina with my mom the night before and while telling them of my trip when I paused as I saw Jason strutting down the hall towards us. See after Judy had confessed to me about her relationship with Jason, I stopped talking to both of them, to get over him.
“Can we talk?” Jason stopped in front of me. Kailee and Alyssa had sensed me becoming tense and started throwing glares at him. “Alone?” Jason asked. Examining him closer, my eyes grew wide as I saw what was in his hand, a mint green envelope with gold washi tape on the edges, the same envelope I had used to seal the love letter I had written him.
“I, yea” I choked out and started to follow Jason down the hall.
“Rosie! Where are you going? I’m supposed to walk you to your first period remember?” A firm hand grabbed my wrist and spun me around into a strong embrace before I could register what was happening.
“I’m sorry?” Jason asked
The arms had let go of me and I looked up, it was no other than Brandon Kim. “Hey man, if you need to speak to my girlfriend speak to me first,” he spoke sternly at Jason.
“What?” Both Jason and I stammered in unison.
“Come on, let’s go, babe,” Brandon took my hand in his before leading me off in the opposite direction of Jason, leaving him there just as shocked as I was. It wasn’t until we were on the bleachers of the football field that he stopped.
“Okay what was that all about?” I asked him.
“Helping you.”
“From?”
“That love letter you wrote.”
“Wait how do you know?” I asked, only I know about the letter because I was the only one who wrote it and even then I hid it where it shouldn’t have been found.
Brandon sighed, “I happened to hear him talking to a certain someone about the letter. So me being the good person I am, saving you from embarrassment.”
“Well gee thanks, but this has nothing to do with you.”
“No, but it will soon. Be my fake girlfriend.”
“I’m sorry what?” I looked around to see if there was some hidden camera around, “Am I being pranked?”
“I’m being serious, I believe that both of us can benefit from this. You’ll get back at Jason for choosing Judy over you and I’ll get what I want.”
“Exactly what is it that you want?”
“Revenge,” his face turned serious.
“Elaborate?”
“Start of high school Jason and I have been friends since I moved here. I met my first girlfriend through a couple of mutual friends, things were great. Junior year she broke up with me, next day I see her and Jason on a date. Talked to him about it, apparently, they were talking to each other for months,” he shrugged, “I ended up cutting ties with the both of them.”
“Okay but that has nothing to do with me and my love letter.”
“Kind of does. See, what I’m thinking is how would Jason feel that his close friend that he possibly could have dated, falls in love for his ex-friend whose girlfriend he stole? Guilty?”
“Deal,” I didn’t hesitate, “But we have to make a contract,” I pulled out a paper and pen from my backpack. “Oh my God, this is going to be like To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before,” I squealed.
“To All The what?” Brandon asked.
“You know, rom-com where the quirky girl fake dates the hot jock so her actual crush that she can’t date thinks that she doesn’t like him,” I quickly explained.
“Never heard of it.”
“Oh goodness, alright first agreement is that we have to watch To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before together,” I wrote.
“Only if we also watch The Bodyguard right after.”
I rolled my eyes, “Fine.”
Although we were late to first period, the two of us sat on the bleachers for another 30 minutes finalizing our contract marking the start of our fake relationship. Our fake relationship was smooth sailing and believable. I would go to his soccer games and cheer him on and he would go to every one of my science club meetings that I was conducting with boba tea. We both joined the League of Legends esports team together and play bottom lane on the team that pleased the coach as we had what he called great synergy with one another.
Jason and Judy started to break things off with one another, the two of them who were nearly always together started to see each other less and less.
April 15th. Brandon had brought us two tickets to Camp Nowhere, as part of the contract states that both of us would have to attend concerts together. Luckily for both of us, we both enjoy the artist, Said The Sky. To our luck, Jason was also going along with his group of friends. Although it was a music festival with over three hundred attendees, somehow Jason was merely a few feet away from us.
The strobe lights hit every inch of the venue as everyone banged their heads to the beat. As Said The Sky played his song Potions, Brandon turned me towards him.
“I love you, Rosie Le,” he stared intently at me before kissing my forehead.
“Hey,” Jason shouts before pulling Brandon away from me, “Not cool man.”
Before I could process what was happening Brandon swung at Jason hitting him square in the jaw. Jason staggered back up ready to return one but luckily his friends quickly pulled him away before the commotion got any bigger.
The ride back home was silent, just as we had reached my house Brandon turned to me, “Listen what I said earlier I meant it,” he sighed.
“No,” I shook my head, “No Brandon, this is all just a misunderstanding, it all started with a misunderstanding which is why we made the contract and I don’t know.” I sighed, “The day we end this, by morning you’ll forget about me and everything.” I immediately left afterward. It wasn’t until I was in my room that I had realized I was crying. Thinking back to all the memories we had made together even though they were meant to be fake, I enjoyed them. I didn’t know why I cried so much that night, was it because I was still in love with Jason? Was I not ready to let go? No. It took me a few days to realize, I cried because I was truly in love with Brandon. I had finally found someone that would dedicate as much of their time and affection to me as I would to them, someone that would give me the validation I would need from time to time, someone that wouldn’t do anything to break my trust.