1. Love

She looked for love, thinking of candlelit dinners. Thinking of dozens of roses and walks on the beach. For her, love would be talking to each other on the phone until 3am. Love would be the cliched boy next door. She knew love would be love letters, and a first kiss underneath the rain.

Every time she met a guy, she looked for love endlessly. She looked for it underneath all of their shallow words, and meaningless actions. She had standards; she knew she deserved better.

She finally met someone who dared to make her care about him. He was simple; he bought her cookies, and brought her sunflowers instead of roses. He was shy, nothing close to the gallant knight in shining armor that she found in her dreams. He was a quick peck on the cheek, and he was the guy who would rather cross his arms than hold hands with her in the hallways.

Their dates were study dates, or Chinese take-out and a movie (most of the time, a Jackie Chan or some action movie), or drives out in his car as they sang out to old 80's songs. Their first kiss was clumsy, and their teeth banged into each other so hard that she saw stars.

But somehow, she knew as she looked into his brown eyes as he sheepishly tried to explain himself and say sorry for the awful kiss, that this was love.

Playlist: "So This is Love" - Ilene Woods (Cinderella)