“You really don’t think I’m ugly?”
So that's your great advice, is it? You come over here under the guise of giving me wonderful advice about my relationship and all you have is tell the truth? I could have googled that, please leave.
Get home safe because your Uber's here and make sure you text me and make sure they don't murder you and please call me if they try to murder you. You promise? Thank you.
Get home safe. I love you too. Tell them the truth, what even is the truth? That I'm a loser and the only way I could secure a relationship with them is by not being myself? Is that truly what you're telling me right now? I love you but you are giving me appalling advice.
Please leave this premises and do not get murdered by a strange person. Say no, you are not taking me to a secondary location unless it's my domain. All right? Text me the car registration.
Thank you. Love you too. I will consider things that you have said.
Leave. I still had wine and I need to lay down. Bye.
Why do I have to have morally responsible friends who care about ethics and shit? Just be brave, she says. Tell them the truth, she says.
Well, I say that's easy for you to say. You have tits like melons and a face carved by angels and I look like Moaning Myrtle from Harry Potter. Except I'm not as cute because I'm Northern.
Hippity hoppity, I need to own my own intellectual prophecy. I need to behold thine own visage and say that is good enough but that is really not that easy when it's this. Come here, mirror.
Let me look at you. You, you, you. Oh, real old plain you.
Why? Why was I given such a fantastical gift to change and shift and shape and grow if this was the starting point? That is just insulting.
On so many levels, you give me blah with the potential of becoming wow and you say you have to be good with blah? What's a load of old shite? That's me.
And no, I am not proud of my cowardice, but cowardice is comfy. And bravery makes my tummy do flips. But do I want my entire romantic relationship to be based on nothing but looks and lies? The moral side of me says no, but the practical side says what they don't know won't hurt them.
No. Bads. Bads.
Lies are bad. Okay? Lies are evil and will only lead to delusions of aesthetic heights.
Oh. Why did no one bless me with nice shaped tits? Yes, I can make them that way if I want to, but it's not exactly the starting point so it doesn't matter.
And they've never seen me naked and what am I supposed to present them this? This freckled, sacny, spattered normality. Average, mid, me.
And I'm disappointed in myself that I'm not braver, but then I have the ability to put endless filters on myself in real time. And they say be okay with this, but it's like, look at the internet, look at the world. A wrinkle here, cellulite there, mustaches where they're supposed to be there because surprise, surprise, women are mammals.
Not acceptable. Scrutinized. And I have all of them.
I have pores, I have wrinkles, I have tiny baby tits. Most of all, I'm not even brave about it. At least you could respect a confident, ugly person.
Time to order food and feel sorry for myself. Even more so than I do already. God, I disgust myself.
But I still deserve food because I'm greedy. Well, that can't possibly be the food because I have not ordered it or even chosen what I want to eat. So, what's the Uber driver a murderer? Hi.
Um, please don't scream. No, please, please, come here, please. Come inside.
I'm not, I'm not, I'm not a crazy person, okay? You, you actually know me. I know, I know, I know you think you don't because I don't look like what I normally look like, but you know me and I'm not going to hurt you, I promise, okay?
I'm not a crazy lady that's just dragged you into her apartment, I'm just a cowardly lady who's dragged you into her apartment. There's a difference, I promise, you're not in danger. Yes, I'm aware that lady lives here because that lady is me.
So, so sorry. And if you want to run away and never see me again, I don't have a leg to stand on and I would totally understand. Yep.
Shocked silence is understandable. Oh, okay. Did not think you would sit on the sofa.
Can I get you a drink? I've drunk most of the wine, but there's some if you'd like. Yes, sure.
Here you go. Nice calming soda because that is what we need right now. Calming, calming, pot to calm down with.
Um, I'm so sorry for being a cowardly little shit who is a coward. I, every excuse I could give you is just so shallow and pathetic and you've come to think of me as someone who's not that, and that's, it must be really disappointing. I never thought I was ugly until I got to high school.
Whenever I looked in the mirror when I was a kid, I was always just, I was just happy. I just saw my smile and my crooked teeth and I just wanted to be a better person. I just saw my smile and my crooked teeth and I scraped knees and my bruises and everything.
And I just thought you look great. And then slowly my legs weren't supposed to be hairy and my teeth weren't supposed to be crooked and I needed to wear deodorant and my boobs were an odd shape and one was bigger than the other and everything about me was wrong all of a sudden. And then when my powers came in and I found out, holy shit, I can turn into a horse or a dog or a fire demon if I want to.
I thought, well, why don't I just make myself beautiful? And ever since then I've had no problems. Everybody smiles at me, everybody treats me nicely, everybody tells me that I'm beautiful.
And while it helps while you're outside, it, um, well, I still know what I look like. It's my default setting. It's what I turn into when I'm stressed or tired or ill.
It's what I see when I first wake up. And all of that doesn't excuse that I lied. Doesn't excuse that I lied.
And I'm sorry. I really wish I was brave and confident and probably all the things you thought I was. But I'm not.
I'm me and apparently I'm a medium ugly liar. And you really don't have to humor me and sit there and try and see the decency in me. I know this is fucked up.
And yes, this is part of the reason I didn't want to go further than kissing because I didn't want to do that to you. Have you sleep with someone you think is real who's just a figment of manipulation? And please don't say that.
I'm not. I am. I know what I look like.
Okay. You don't have to feel sorry for me, or if you do, you don't have to patronize me. And I know I'm not in a position to be lecturing you.
I understand that. But you don't have to pretend to see something that you don't see. Okay.
You like the version that I showed you, the one with the bouncy hair, the clear skin, perfect complexion, nice boobs, cool clothes. Everything that isn't me. And that is my fault.
I'm not yours. But please don't tell me that I'm pretty. Because I'm not.
What? I'm. ..
I need to stop feeling sorry for myself. Harsh, but probably true. I understand that you're angry.
I. .. Stop it.
Saying things that aren't true. You liked the version I showed you, okay? You don't have to pretend that this is.
.. You're really that much nicer than me. You like my personality.
You like cowardly people who hide behind avatars, do you? Is that your type? I'm sorry.
Really, I'm quite good at feeling sorry for myself. Oh god, and now you're holding my hand. And being sympathetic.
And why are you being sympathetic? Why aren't you just pissed? Because pissed is what I was prepared for, and this is not pissed.
This is uncomfortable, and. .. You really don't think I'm ugly? Even though I'm not brave? Thank you for shouting, and for hugging me, and.
.. And. ..
being ridiculously understanding.