80 quid relationship

Setting: Apsley Railway Station, 19-22 yr. old couple,

There I was at a suburb railway station waiting for a train back home after a long day at work, doing my usual things - having a fag and calling my wife to tell her that I was on the way home. Suddenly I heard a young couple no more than 20 year olds talking about relationships. I couldn’t help myself but overhear, as my ears inadvertently tuned into their conversation.

Their conversation progressed as to how they had different priorities or at least that’s what they thought.  I thought to myself, yet another teenage love story. Just as their conversation heated up my train arrived and I was left intrigued as to how their saga would have ended; did they just drift apart or kissed and made up?

I guess the God’s were really kind on me, as the couple boarded the same train and voila, right beside me; couldn’t ask for any better seat than that!!

Though I missed quite a bit of their talk, it wasn’t hard to catch up. By then, they had already started to evaluate where their relationship was and how the girl’s mum hates him etc. Surprisingly though it was the guy who was doing all the talking and I guessed that the girl had already decided on what she was going to do.

The kind of depth the conversation went into about relationships, caused me to re-evaluate my opinions about teenage puppy love. As much as I would have loved to savour the thought there it was the talk of money and how much they had spent on each other’s mistakes.

Guess after a long calculation of providing discounts, calculating interests, they arrived to a conclusion that the girl owed the guy £80.  Further on, the conversation was primarily centred on the final settlement of £80 and debate around when the girl could pay it back, not to mention a few pot shots at each other about how they had spent lavishly on nights out in central London. Seeing that this negotiation was going nowhere and the guy was adamant on getting his full and final settlement and would then have nothing to do with her thereafter, the girl pulled out the classic break up card of how they could remain friends, still hang out and no love lost even if they were to part ways!

Having heard this conversation for so long and their debate still ringing in my ears, I took a break and started thinking; should there be a school to teach relationships and love? Are we so caught up in our own busy schedules that we fail to teach our kids the valuable lessons of life and just leave it for the world to teach them?

Even though I was caught up in my own thoughts trying to find some answers, subconsciously my mind and consciously my ears were still listening to the ongoing debate. The final peace deal was now placed on the table and still it was the guy who was talking! There were two sides of the deal: either the girl goes ahead and does whatever she wanted with the money paid by Friday (today was Thursday), after which they would have nothing to do with each other, not even the friendship proposed earlier by the girl or the girl changes her lifestyle and gives this relationship a chance, in which case the £80 takes a backseat. Oh and by the way, the deadline for this decision making process was the next half hour!!

As much as I would have liked to know the outcome of this £80 relationship, my station had come and as I alighted from the train, I turned around and took one final look at the couple who were still busy in their own world. Eighty quid or a change of lifestyle, which would you take?