I Want To Be Loved

• Sadie Kendall, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2022

I want to be loved. I want someone to smile at me with their eyes twinkling. I want someone to tuck my hair behind my ear and call me pretty. I want someone to call me cute when I do small things like scrunch my nose or tilt my head when I’m thinking. I want someone to be nervous to ask me out for coffee even if we hangout all the time. I want someone who makes me blush over something silly like giggling with a snort. I want someone to bring me flowers that are half wilted because they picked them out of someone else’s garden. I want someone to take me on walks along the beach and collect seashells with. I want someone to play footsies under the table with me like a twelve-year-old but have a mature philosophical conversation above the counter. I want someone who will lay their head in my lap as I read my favourite book to them and they are intrigued with the storyline and plot. I want someone who makes aesthetic boards about me on Pinterest, and who can’t shut up about me to their mum. I want someone to call me pet names like darling, honey, love, gorgeous, just to make me feel better. I want someone to be obsessed with something like I am and to stand up for it if I make a joke about it. I want someone who blurts their random thoughts to me without any filter and will listen to me when I'm talking absolute rubbish. I want someone who’s friends with my brother, and who my dad likes. I want someone who will fight me over whether italics or bold is better to attract attention from someone when it's obviously bold, but who cares, because it ends with them holding me while humming whatever tune is on their mind. I want someone to buy me stupid presents that no one ever understands because it’s an inside joke but I laugh so hard my insides hurt. I want someone to snuggle up to me and wrap their arms around my waist while whispering ‘sweet dreams’ in my ear. I want someone who has planned their wedding since they were a little kid and make it known to me that I’d be the one their marrying. I want someone to propose to me without the roses and without huge crowds, but just with us and when I say yes, they cry. I want someone who agrees with me on the big things of the wedding like the location, but get into small, playful arguments about what flowers are in the arrangements. I want someone to go around flaunting their wedding ring like they just won the lottery, but when it’s just the two of us at home, they kiss me on the temple and tell me how lucky they are that I’m theirs.
I truly, genuinely, utterly, sincerely, honestly, just want to be loved.