Many people assume that highschool relationships don’t usually last, due to reasons like immaturity and difficulties with personal growth as a teenager. The average high school relationship is about 6 months, but most are much, much shorter. However 2 journalists from the Galileo Press have defied the odds & have been going strong for over 2 years.
Read about their story:
Mahlon and I met in the 5th period College and Career class we had together in freshman year and when I managed boys basketball. I didn’t know him that well, but the impression he gave me was that he was kind of a goof and very annoying since he liked to be loud and obnoxious during the class.
We had always been close friends and I thought he was a good-looking person but I never thought of him in a non-platonic way. In sophomore year, after a basketball game one day, he sat next to me and we watched the Varsity game together, and it felt weirdly romantic to me because we never hung out without any of our friends around us before. I knew he liked me before to some extent because our friends mentioned it a few times, but I guess I sensed it at the time too. After I hinted at being interested, we started hanging out in Physics and texting much more than we usually did in the past.
After a while, we developed pretty strong feelings for each other and I wanted to be exclusive, so I decided I was going to ask him out since I knew he would be too scared to ask anytime soon. I was about to get on the bus to head home after hanging out at his place, and I asked him out nearly a minute before the bus came, so that I had an escape route in case it was awkward. Funny thing was, he didn’t hear me at first so I had to repeat the question, which made me rethink my decision, but he ended up saying “yes”. At the moment, I was extremely nervous because I had never done it before and I felt embarrassed being the one asking, but I also felt happy because I knew for sure that he was going to say yes.
I think a part of why our relationship has lasted is because of our similar interests and how we never run out of things to talk about. This started with our friendship, and our habits of talking about everything together, ranging from school sports to the different kinds of media we enjoy. Ultimately, the friendship we had since the beginning prevailed over any changes that happened throughout the span of us knowing each other, and it’s good to remember that we were friends before we were partners. This means that we initially connected because of how good the friendship was, not because we were attracted to each other romantically, and I think this built a strong foundation for the relationship.
I believe the most important aspects of a strong relationship are the ability to set stable boundaries regarding balancing your relationship with spending time with others who are important to you, communicating effectively to sort things out when you run into conflicts, keeping your effort consistent throughout the relationship so that the spark between you remains strong, and lastly recognizing your partner’s love language and what they need in the relationship.
As for dealing with hardship, Mahlon and I always try to speak up to each other right away if there’s a certain way we feel about something, along with honestly conveying how we feel about the situation, even if the truth hurts the other person. If the talk goes well, it usually ends in discussing what we need to change about our own actions, and sometimes making a compromise that is fair to both of us. The most important thing is persisting in trying to fix the issue, rather than giving up on each other and never resolving it.
Mahlon is a peculiar person, so he always makes faces and talks in weird accents when he messes with me, so that probably makes me smile the most. It also makes me happy when he buys me food and flowers/ stuff like that obviously).
When we are upset with each other, we express it by being honest about it and giving each other space until we’re ready to talk about it. On the other hand, when we feel fine in the relationship, we usually hang out a lot and are more affectionate to each other than when someone is upset.
He’s done a lot of memorable things for me but I find the handmade gifts he makes (like cards) the most important to me because he puts a lot of effort and time into them, and they’re really sweet.
After high school, Mahlon and I aren’t going to the same college and we’re about an hour drive from each other, but I don’t think it will be too big of an issue to us. We had never planned to go to the same college so I’ve prepared myself for this situation and I feel decent about it, however I think that it will come with many obstacles such as adversities with communication and balancing the relationship with having to adapt to the new college environment.
