Relationships

10 Things You'll Hate About Falling In Love If You're A Jaded Girl

by Emily Blauvelt
Buena Vista Pictures

This movie contains Heath Ledger’s Australian accent, Julia Stiles as the spunky, feminist Kat Stratford and an adorably young Joseph Gordon-Levitt -- all in a tumultuous a high school setting.

If I haven’t caught your attention already, then I’ve failed you.

"10 Things I Hate About You" is one of the not-so-hidden gems of the 90s.

Having only been 6 when this movie came out, it took me 15 years to really appreciate this movie.

But at 21 years old, my first encounter with Kat Stratford and Patrick Verona had me laughing, crying and freaking out over the fact that Kat was me.

Kat is an obnoxiously opinionated, self-righteous, fearless, heinous shrew and I am Kat with better fashion sense.

But we can’t blame her for those gaudy flip-flops and tacky cargo pants; it was the 90s after all.

Just like Kat probably didn’t expect to fall in love, I didn’t expect to fall in love.

Then two weeks after my 22nd birthday, I did.

Here’s what happens when you’re like Kat Stratford and you finally fall in love:

1. You’re always waiting for the ball to drop.

It’s pretty weird when a guy actually likes you. You wait weeks for the ball to drop.

You play the “No, don’t text him first” game until you realize that when he said he wasn’t going anywhere, he actually meant it.

It isn’t until you’re at a party and you think he’s lying to you about who his brother is that you realize you’re being ridiculous.

(Read: He may or may not have to literally yell in your ear that he will never lie to you. And then you still won’t believe him.)

2. You want to slap yourself for wondering what he’s doing or if he’s having a good day.

Until you met your partner, you prided yourself on being relatively heartless. It sounds horrible, but it’s true.

It’s much easier to go through life without caring about someone else.

When you’re at work trying to get sh*t done and thoughts of him and the things he’s said keep interrupting your thought process, you start getting really annoyed.

Then you realize that you literally can’t control it, which drives you absolutely insane.

But you love it.

3. When you catch yourself smiling, you put on your RBF so nobody can tell you're actually in love.

Typical thought process: “I’m a stone cold bitch with an iron heart that’s incapable of loving.”

Then the, “Looking forward to seeing you later!” text comes in and you become a f*cking ball of stupid, smiley, sometimes giddy mush.

It sucks.

Except it doesn’t.

4. You become a total sap, but you'll try to hide it even from your SO.

You think you were good at daydreaming before you fell in love?

You’ll think of things you would never actually say to a person because they’re so corny.

Not even Oprah would say this sappy sh*t.

If Adele was your spirit songstress before, now she is like an angel sent from the heavens to put every feeling you’ve ever felt into song.

Sometimes you’ll just feel like crying and you won’t even know why, and it's especially confusing to you because you do not cry.

You will not tell anyone any of this because heaven forbid he or she finds out you have a soul.

5. Opening up to your SO will be the scariest thing you'll ever do.

When your SO figures out what makes you tick (and if this is the right person, he or she will probably figure it out before you even explain), it will scare the sh*t out of you.

There is nothing that freaks you out more than being vulnerable, but he or she will push you to be.

You’ll be terrified to take down your walls, but you will because you love them.

6. You'll finally understand what people mean when they call their SO their best friend.

When you realize your relationship is not just a physical and mental attraction but also a friendship, you will feel so incandescently happy you won’t know what to do with yourself.

Your partner will make you laugh so hard you'll want to cry, and will be the person who sends you a text mid-day Monday just to make you smile.

Your SO will be the one  person you'll want to share everything with.

7. You’ll actually start paying attention to the things they like, and you’ll become invested in them.

The things that matter to your partner become important to you, and suddenly you go from being a Bruins fan to a Lightning fan, and your dad is threatening to disown you.

But you’re in love, so you don’t mind.

You start keeping a list in your phone of your SO's favorite foods and drinks, what he or she wants for Christmas and what brunch places you two need to hit next.

8. You won’t feel like you ever have to explain yourself.

Your partner will just get it because he or she gets you and that might be the best feeling ever.

Your partner can tell when you’re disappointed, annoyed or happy by just looking at you.

Your partner can tell when you’ve had a bad day by the sound of your voice on the phone.

Your partner can tell when you’re trying to be strong so you don’t break down, and even more importantly, he or she can tell when it’s time to be strong so you can break down.

9. You’ll learn that sometimes being strong means being vulnerable.

Before falling in love, being strong meant never crying and never feeling anything you didn’t want to feel.

Before falling in love, being vulnerable meant telling someone your grandmother died.

After falling in love, being vulnerable meant telling the person you love that your grandmother's death nearly destroyed you and that it’s the reason you almost always cry on New Year's.

You’ll also learn that being strong and vulnerable never gets easy.

But it’s easier when you have the support of someone who will never leave your side.

10. Some days you’ll hate yourself for loving this person.

Giving yourself to someone was never going to be easy for you, and when it happened, you didn’t even realize it.

When you realized your heart belongs to this person, that the very thought of him or her leaving was enough to move you to tears, you started to push.

You willed yourself to hate this person so he or she would back away.

You told yourself being alone is easier than risking heartbreak.

But this person caught on to you.

When you pushed, this person pulled.

The moment your SO reeled you back into his or her arms, you knew you were a goner.

Because no matter how hard you tried, you could never hate him or her.

Not even a little bit, not even at all.