“Love fades and no one should even try,” she said. We were all minding our business, learning about mitosis, when Marinne blurted this accusation at our table in Biology. I don't know if it was the annoying atmosphere of perfectly matched daughter cells or the bubbling of emotion finally boiling over, but it had started a quarrel of disagreement among the table. Little did I know, Marinne would continue her conversation about love with our other table mate, Brooke, throughout the entire week. Marinne´s exclamation had already claimed the table of six’s attention and we were all listening intently to their argument.

Finally, Marinne and Brooke noticed that we were all staring at them with curious eyes. I didn't feel bad about jumping in the conversation, because we’re all close and it wasn’t a big deal.  I started with an opposing statement, ¨Love is the greatest feeling in the world.”

Marinne, being the eternal optimist that she is, replied, “Love does not exist.”

Emma, the person sitting directly to the right of me, seemed to agree with this statement and added, ¨Yeah, ‘love’ is just a bunch of chemicals in your brain.”  I felt slightly betrayed by this statement and quietly rethought my existence. As I tried to come up with a witty remark, I recited a quote from Aquamarine, one of my favorite childhood movies.

“Love doesn't always work, but there must be a reason why everyone wants it so much.¨

To my surprise, Marinne replied with the same words used in the movie,

¨And why’s that?¨

“Because love is the closest thing we have to magic.” I replied, passionately. I know it’s really cheesy, and to my lactose intolerant readers I apologize, but that quote has stuck with me for a very long time and I have chosen to believe in it. The bell rang over the silence that my little outburst had made. I’ll admit, I may have been a tiny bit overly rambunctious in the dead silent setting of the classroom. Okay no, I know I was too loud for that kind of setting.

Days after, we continued to have the same argument. Well it wasn’t really an argument persay, but a mildly heated discussion in which we continually shamed each other for being so lonely. The more we kept on talking, the more background information I began to learn about the discussion that was occurring before the rest of the table. By then, we were all adding our own opinions into the conversation. It turns out that Brooke has this infatuation with a guy from a different school who we will call Mr. Different, for some comical relief to this heavy topic. Our table has this running joke where we pretend to be desperate, lovesick teenagers. We say things like, “Oh, but he is different from all of the other guys” or “He wouldn't lie to me because he told me he wasn't a liar.” Marinne, trying to prevent her friend from reliving some of her own past mistakes, told her that love wasn’t worth trying for. She claimed Brooke’s crush wasn’t different, but Brooke’s belief that, ‘love is a reality,’ was unwavering.

I add to the argument by saying, ¨Brooke’s right.¨ I agree that until we know who Mr. Different is and whether or not he is truly “different” Brooke should try and give him a chance. I know that opening yourself up to someone is scary. For some people, it’s downright terrifying. However, that's not a reason why you, or anyone else, should deny themselves the feeling of finally being able to swallow your saliva at the dentist like feeling of love. That is a weird analogy and not something I would associate with love, but it’s true. The relief and completely comforting feeling of not having someone's hands in your mouth stabbing at your gums anymore, is like love. I believe that we should fight for this feeling every chance we get and never stop looking until we find it.

On the other hand, I understand Marinne’s perspective. She has opened herself up to love too many times and all she has afterwards are a lot of blocked phone numbers. But without those experiences, she would not be the person that she is today, the person that fights back and has a quick as a whip sense of humor. Back then she knew what the goal of life be was; she just didn't know of the possible casualties. That's what hurt her the most, the Disney promise that one day you will find your happily ever after. Or even that one day your true love will whisk you away into the setting sun. We all know that this is not true, but we still choose to hope that it is. We all realize it sooner or later and for Marinne, it was the latter. 

At last, I have gained an understanding of why Marinne has strayed from love. I still stand strong on my belief that everyone should always look for love. Whether its Romantic love, Friendly love, Family love or just plain Puppy love, love is love and there is nothing anybody can tell you to change that. I hope that you get the chance to show your love and have it reciprocated just as much. My parting words to you are a phrase that I hope you remember: Love is always worth fighting for.