Relationship Status: It's Complicated

Women Are From Venus

He stood outside the fence, strategically across her bedroom window. He held up a sign, speakers blaring - of course it had to be JB.

They'd been at war for over twelve hours, and he still didn't understand why. They were just out on a morning stroll, and then she evolved into a manhater and refused to speak to him.

He'd initially turned a cold shoulder in response. What did he even do? But her giggly band of girl friends advised otherwise. And rather persistently. No, he shouldn't just stand there and let her walk away forever. He had to rush to her side and do something dramatic.

He figured they were testing him, emotionally dissecting him like they would a frog in biology class. She was probably waiting for it to rain and see if he was going to pack up and leave. And her friends were probably inside the house with her, in multicolored but matching pajamas, painting each other's nails and smashing pillows into their faces.

But what else could he do but play along?

He did like her, tantrums and all.

Sentimental

After dinner on New Year's Eve, we sat cross-legged on the floor with a bottle of wine and a box full of pictures. The wine had become tradition, but the box was a surprise. "What are we supposed to do with these?" I asked, taking out a couple of photos.

He laughed. "Where'd your sense of sentimentality go? Just thought we could, you know, look back on how our year went and the stuff we'd managed to do together."

I elbowed him teasingly. "You didn't strike me as the sentimental type."

"I have my moments," he replied with a wink. He reached out for one of the pictures I was holding. It was a candid shot from one of our trips, with me standing on a sidewalk and totally engrossed with my phone. "Remember this?"

"Oh my gosh!" I exploded with laughter. The picture wasn't Instagram-worthy; heck, I would've deleted it the second after it was taken if I'd known it existed. But the story behind it was priceless. Embarrassing, but priceless.

"The Super Mario café must be a red building because he wears a red jumpsuit," he said a matter-of-factly, attempting to mimic my voice.

I grabbed a pillow from the couch and hit him with it.

He was still laughing when he grabbed me in return and kissed me on the forehead. "Adorable."

We spent the rest of the evening going through the pictures, retelling our stories and planning future adventures, even after we'd finished our bottle of wine and the clock struck midnight.

"Happy new year, hun."

"Happy new year."

Mother

"You look tired."

She took a sip of her soda before replying. "No, not tired. Just... thinking."

He frowned. "Class didn't go well? Weren't you supposed to have show and tell, or something?"

"Oh, it went well. Too well. The kids were delighted to be superheroes for a day. Naturally, they wore costumes. And got into fights, shouting all sorts of battle cries. Many of them attempted to fly." She was chuckling by the end of her story, and so was he.

"How many Captain Americas?"

"Four. Plus an equal amount of Iron Mans. And Bucky."

"No wonder you're exhausted."

She shook her head. "I told you, I'm not tired. It's just... there's this one kid. She went last. Wore an oversized blazer and a large floppy hat. I seriously thought she was going to say she was Black Widow in disguise or something. But no. Guess who she was?"

They'd been together long enough for him to know it was a rhetorical question. So he said nothing and simply nodded for her to continue.

"A mother."

He blinked. "Capital M mother? Mother Goddess? Earth Mother?"

"No. A mother." She took his hand in both of hers, absent-mindedly playing with his fingers. "She said her mother was invincible, could do anything. And that she wanted to be just like her when she grew up."

They looked into each other's eyes in silence for a while. Then a grin spread across his face. "Yeah, I think mothers are pretty super."

She pursed her lips together. "I'm scared."

"Oh, don't worry about it," he said, kissing her forehead. "Kids don't lie. So if she said mothers are invincible, then you're going to be."