The Anti-Love Pact

Chapter Three

Tina

How to get over...

Things to do after...

Ways to improve...

My fingers flow across the keyboard, constantly typing and back spacing.

"Will you just put in something already?" Noah is leaned over my shoulder, staring at the computer screen in front of us.

"A little personal space, dude." I jest, turning my face towards him.

He chuckles and leans back. I type in "Things to do after a breakup" and press enter. It's 7am on a Sunday. Noah and I woke up at the butt crack of dawn and have been sitting here for over an hour, trying to figure out how we're going to work on this little pact of ours. I guess we both couldn't sleep last night.

A bunch of results pop up and I scroll through the titles, scanning to see which one seems the most appealing. "How to improve yourself after a break up..." I read the title of one of the articles, "Ooh this one!" I click and the web page pops open.

My eyes skim through the words and sentences. Let yourself grieve the end of the relationship, got it. Love yourself, got it. Stay motivated, got it. "Learn something new." I say under my breath, repeating what one of the points of the article states. "Learn something new!" I say again, but louder, turning to face Noah.

He's leaning back in his chair with his arms resting behind his head. "Learn something new? Like what, like learn Spanish or something?"

"No! I mean yes, but more so I think..." I look over the article to repeat the exact advice, "Find a new hobby or learn a new skill. This will keep your mind off of the breakup while also allowing you to learn something new."

I look back at him, eyes widened with excitement. "So, what do you think? Doable?"

"Yeah, doable." He responds. "So, what are we going to learn?"

"I think we both should focus on learning different things, but I mean we can help each other out. I don't know, what sounds fun?" I bite my lip in thought, thinking of all the different possibilities.

"Let's start with what you want to do first." He tells me. "Oh man, the pressure!" I say with a laugh.

My mind goes back and forth with all these different ideas. Ridiculous ones such as skydiving, as I'm deathly afraid of heights, scuba diving, as I'm deathly afraid of deep water, and typical ones such as taking up running, knitting, learning to play a sport, etc.

My train of thought is broken as Noah brings up a suggestion. "Hey, I have an idea, why don't we each teach the other to do something?"

"Ooh, go on." I look at him with anticipation.

"It may just be the teacher talking in me, but I feel like teaching someone something new is as valuable as learning something new, and here we could be killing two birds with one stone."

"Great idea, Mr. Hill." Because it is, a very great idea. I wave my finger at him as if to say he's on to something.

"Well now we just have to figure out what one of us knows how to do, that the other one doesn't." He doesn't even have to finish that sentence before I know what he can teach me, but I don't want to say it.

"And well, Tina, I think we both know what you could learn how to do." He teases.

"Hey! I happen to think my instant ramen and fried egg combo is chef's kiss, thank you very much!" I defend myself. He's right in the fact that we both know that I may need some help in the kitchen, and Noah is a master in there.