They don’t make rom-coms like they used to, like the ones from the early 2000s that are chock-full of hope, clichés, cheesiness, and never-ending whimsy and love. Nothing in the world compares to the warmth that spreads through your chest when that big moment happens and the couple finally commits to one another.
It’sindescribable.
The hope that love likethatcan be attainable is powerful. These movies were never made for the critics or the cynics. They were created for the hopeless romantics who spend hours sittingin front of the screen, watching love overcome anything and everything.
One day, I’ll have that dramatic moment when everything finally clicks into place and the love of my life tips me back and kisses me like nothing else in the world matters. Maybe my foot will pop during the kiss, or fireworks will go off on cue. Maybe we’ll collide in the rain, kissing as raindrops pepper our cheeks. Or he’ll twirl me in the air as we break into a fit of giggles.
I want so badly to find a love strong enough to triumph over any hurdle, like the stories I grew up on.
Once upon a time, I thought I had found that with my childhood crush. He was my first kiss, my first …everything. I thought we would last forever.
I may still be on the search for the right guy. But in the meantime, I’ll do what I’ve always done—focus on myself and rewatch my favorite rom-coms over and over, reciting most of the lines and swooning like it’s the first time I’ve seen it.
There are so many great 2000s rom-coms, but of course, I have certain ones that hold an extra-special place in my heart. Ones that everyone needs to watch at least once in their lives and experience the bubbling optimism you feel whenThe Endcrosses the screen.
I’ve compiled a checklist of fifty-two early 2000s rom-com movies and a couple of ’90s ones that I watch at least once a year, although I’m usually always ahead of schedule. It’s become a tradition for my best friend, Maeve Holt, and me.
We’ve been besties since she and her family moved across the street from us when I was twelve. We hit it off instantly and have been inseparable ever since. She is far more like a sister to me now. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for that girl, and vice versa.
She might not love the movies as much as I do, but she’s never missed a Friday movie night since we started. She may pretend she doesn’t dream about a happily ever after like I do,but she’s only lying to herself. I’ve seen the way her eyes light up at thebig kissmoment. She wants that love as much as I do.
A little over halfway through the year, we’ve already made a massive dent in our movie list. But it’s easy to watch so many together when you and your bestie are roommates and have been for the last two years after graduating high school.
Although we’ll have to put our list on hold for a week as we move into my family’s lake house in Wasona Grove, Minnesota.
New place. New university. And one familiar face I’m not at all excited to see … my best friend’s older brother,Mason Holt.
I’ve begrudgingly been in love with my best friend’s brother since I was thirteen years old, when my whimsical daydream blossomed into reality. In the backyard, under a starry night sky, he tipped my head back and kissed me like it was all he’d ever wanted to do. I can imagine the bonfire and bug spray, mixed with his cologne. And if I take a deep enough breath, I can almost smell it, the same fluttering giddiness creeping back into my chest.
Although now, the reminder of it only aggravates me because he doesn’t deserve those happy feelings. He doesn’t deserve my love.
Not after he took all of my firsts and left me heartbroken when he went off to play hockey at Northern Minnesota University without a word, ignoring my texts and calls and proving that I was wrong about the couple I thought we were going to become.
When I finally saw him in person at our graduation, he pretended as if nothing had ever happened between us, barely even looking my way. The only time he acknowledged my existence was when I caught him staring at me with a painful longing in his eyes, which only angered me more.
The silence has festered and stirred over the years. Now, the only thing I think about when I see his face is rage. Which meansI’ll be feeling that a lot more since we’ll be in the same town and school again. I don’t care to ever hear an apology from him, and if he tries to, I’ll tell him exactly where he can shove it.
“I’m tired of this, Daph,” Maeve groans, carrying another overly stuffed box inside through the front door.
“Well, that’s too fucking bad!” I tease her, laughing at a quote we’ve adapted from an infamous movie as I watch her set down the box in the living room. “We’ve only got a few more left though. It’ll be okay.”
She huffs out a breath, both in frustration and to blow a few blonde strands off of her face. “I’m pretty sure there’s fifty more on that truck.” She groans. “Remind me why we didn’t coordinate with my brother so he and his teammates could do all the manual labor.”
Glaring at her with ayou know damn well whylook on my face, I stroll out of the kitchen. “He’s dead to me.” I scoff, walking into the living room through the open floor layout. “And besides, we are strong, independent women who don’t need anyone else but each other.”
She collapses onto the couch, her body going limp as she sighs. “Right now, my arms aggressively disagree with you.”
Maeve is well aware that Mason broke my heart. She was the one who held me while I cried on her shoulder, swearing off dating for the rest of my life. She then proceeded to tell me that Mason was an asshole and always would be and that I deserved so much better than her cocky brother. Something she had spent years warning me about before my inevitable downfall.
Cocky is certainly a fitting way to describe him—in more than one way. Ugh, men who arethathot shouldn’t be allowed to be so well endowed. It’s just unfair to the rest of the population. Add that to the fact that he lives on the ice just as much as I used to, and I’m hopelessly in love.
But instead of living happily ever after, I’m left with a grudge against the boy who passionately kissed me, fucked me, and gave me damn butterflies the size of dragons before vanishing from my life.
“Come on, Mae.” I pat her leg, heading back outside to the moving truck. “Let’s finish this so we can order pizza already. I’m hungry.”
“And watch a movie?” she whines playfully.
“Of course. Anything for you.” I blow her air kisses, which she catches and pulls into her chest.
