"Um...who are you?"
Chuckling, he nodded, wiping his free hand that wasn't holding anything anymore and up to mine. Gosh, they looked so soft. "Oh sorry, you are so right-like always. Where are my manners? My name is Liam. I'm your new boyfriend."
...
"...and he kissed me tenderly until the sun came up. Now I know more than ever—no one is more perfect than this man of my dreams." I read aloud as the sobs escaped from my eyes, and onto the cream colored last page of my book.
Oh, Jaleen Loover had to be my favorite author of all time. She made it seem like life for us singles was not all lost in the cesspool of freaks and creeps out there. That we could still find our happy ending no matter what the circumstances may be with the right person. My right person.
Clutching the grip of my smartphone, I pulled out my 'Notes' app and started adding.
#50—He should want to kiss me tenderly until the sun comes up.
I could already picture my lips being so sore from all the kissing. It would be magical. Exactly how falling in love should feel like.
As a little girl, I was always told by my parents to set the bar high. And thanks to the many Disney princess movies I held close to heart, I was also expected to never settle for anything less than a knight and shining armor coming on his noble steed to wake me up. Well, without me being poisoned into a deep sleep, of course. Too bad I've had to kiss a lot of warty frogs to come this far in realizing that.
But Izzy Monroe wasn't a quitter. I had never been.
And reading so many of these books, it only fed further into my quality of expectation.
#49. He'll tell me how much he loves what I do every day.
I read silently before scanning over the entire list I had been working on for over four years now. That was when my last and unbearable relationship ended after he cheated on me with not one— but two of my close friends who I refused to ever speak to or mention again. Apparently to him, I wasn't good enough for him anymore after I chose to chaperone my third-grade class on a field trip to the Museum of Science and Industry in my hometown of Chicago, than to spend the day together watching him play video games.
From then on, I had made the decision to only consider my next possible companion to these basic conditions. No exceptions.
"Miss Monroe?" I suddenly heard a male's voice speak out.
Snapping back to reality, a series of loud bangs echoed throughout the room. Or should I say in this case, the janitor's closet of Parkview Prep School. Uh oh.
"Uh...she's not here." I tried to get whoever it was to go away so I could at least regroup my composure.
"Really? Then why is her staff ID badge in front of this door?" He asked.
I could sense he was most likely snickering at my pathetic qualities in sneaking off into a janitor's closet. Welp.
It was my lunch break though. How else was I supposed to read what I considered my crack in a building full of kids K-12 shouting which social media challenge they wanted to get arrested for or sick from? The teachers lounge wasn't any better. Nothing sets the mood off than reading all the spicy scenes while the P.E. teacher always found a way to stand behind me while telling everyone how a kid upchucked all over the gym floor after the second push-up, and proceeded to laugh about it.
"Okay...it is me." I sighed, already struggling to get up from the cold and hard floor with my nearly thirty-year-old bones. Grabbing the school's mop I'm sure had cleaned up the kid's incident, I opened the door and shyly smiled, hiding the book behind my back. "Martin...how's it going, pal?"
But all I got from Martin was a stern glare, putting his hands on his hips that were being hidden by the oversized custodian uniform.
"Um...did you need something?" I still attempted to make conversation.
"Oh yeah! You, out of here. Now beat it, Monroe. Some of us still have work to do." He pulled my arm away and further out of the closet. "Have some respect for yourself, for crying out loud." I soon heard him mutter but not too quietly if I unintentionally knew.
I still kept on strolling along. The joke was on him. I did have a high level of respect for myself. In fact, I loved where I was in life right now. I had a rewarding job helping kids get a proper education that I always wished for. I lived in the heart of bustling downtown Chicago in a loft style apartment I worked hard to save up for. And I just finished my fiftieth book of the month.
The only thing truly missing was just in the love life department.
In my opinion, I believe every woman should have someone they were happy and excited to come home to. Someone they could share their feelings and innermost thoughts to. Someone who would never judge them if what they had to say was dumb or not. I just had to wait patiently for that someone to be there for me too.
Soon, the school bell rang out as a surge of kids poured out from different rooms and I was back on the clock.
"Miss Izzy! Did I ace that pop quiz last week yet?!" A student of mine named Anna asked with a hopeful smile.
"Considering you're the first person who actually asked if you've progressed, you aced it! If you keep up the hard work like I know you can do, you'll soon get everything you want in life." I proclaimed. She jumped up and gave me a high five before rushing to class.
"Hey, Miss Izzy! When do you want to become my teacher? I wouldn't mind watching you work all day..." A young fourteen-year-old appearing boy called out from his locker. His two friends beside him start teasingly laughing at me.
"As soon as you grow a full amount of chest hair. Until then, how about you just start working on just growing one?" I casually replied. He grew pale as the other boys turned their teasing now over to him.
I was used to that kind of child-like behavior and was proud I could handle myself. It wasn't like I didn't have much practice back home with my neighbor. Speaking of neighbor, I wonder if he's-
"Izzy!" I peered further ahead to see a young Asian woman in a short bob and the most 'teacher aid outfit' one could think of, rushing up to me. Amanda Crown, my colleague bestie.
"Oh, I'm sorry Amanda! I knew I would forget to text you back this morning. I got caught up doing laundry before coming here. I'm assuming everything is okay now though, right?"
"Better than okay! I was just telling you I was going to be leaving a little early today because I have to finish setting up for tonight."
"Ohh, what are you celebrating now? Are you finally getting engaged to Brandon?" I asked her, becoming a little overly excited myself. She shyly blushed, peering her head down. She always got so girlish whenever I brought up her boyfriend of five months. It was the feeling I wanted to have when I saw my forever beau one day.
#24. He will make grand romantic gestures when he wants to take things to the next level.
"Ha! I wish. The man doesn't want to rush into anything so he keeps telling me—but that's fine. I'm willing to wait as long as he is. I'm just happy I get to be with him at all." She happily confirmed. I held my hand up to my heart in awe. "But actually my family just told me they're flying into town in a couple of hours. They wanted to witness the shooting star coming through here tonight up close. On the news, it says it will be at 11pm and will only last for a few seconds. Please tell me you're watching it too!"
I actually didn't plan on anything really. The one thing I surprisingly didn't take away from the movies was believing wishing on stars was a way to get what you wanted in life. After struggling to climb the teaching ladder in order for others to take a 28-year-old third grade teacher seriously, I knew nothing but physical hard work and effort needs to be put in everything one does.
But I still kinda wanted to see it. A shooting star around here was rarer than no rain in April.
"Eh, not really. I was thinking maybe I should just work my list again and start my weekend off strong."
"Oh dear, don't tell me you're still sticking to that thing. Izzy, you're been working on that silly requirement list since I met you. Is that why the blind date I set you up for last night told me and Brandon it would never work out between you two?"
Maybe... "Hey, is it really my fault he didn't have enough chops to even fit #3? 'He should pull open a chair for me and open my doors.' I don't go out with men who can't open doors!" I tried to defend my honor.
"What if he didn't have any hands to do it? Some people can be born without, you know. Come on now, when are you going to realize that you might need to lower your standards just a bit before you'll be single forever?" She asked, grabbing onto my shoulder like she was pleading for me to give her idea a fighting chance.
Never. If I settled for just anything, I'd be waiting for the fourteen-year-old boy to hit eighteen and use that lame pickup line on me again. The next thing I would know, he'd be buying me an extra large fry at our date at Burger King to make it feel extra special.
I was done kissing any more frogs. I was done with being heartbroken. Crushed. Betrayed. I wouldn't.
"Look, I know it sounds ludicrous but I truly believe my Mr. Right is out there right now somewhere waiting for me...you'll see."
"Ludicrous?!" A tiny voice was heard slightly below our knees. Peering down, it was a little girl who should've been in my classroom getting ready for the next part of our day. "You mean that old rapper my parents listen to?"
I didn't know whether to be more disturbed that she was listening in on our conversation or that she just aged me indirectly by referring to him as 'old.'
"Yes..." Amanda shyly cleared her throat toward her, soon leaning in to whisper to me. "But you'll see how much you should listen to me too." She directed her and the girl further into my classroom.
I appreciated her concern, but like I always told my family and friends when they constantly expressed the same feelings and opinions—they didn't have to be.
I know what I'm doing.
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