Love is New

Love is New

All you need is love! This was the motto that 7 year-old Liam Emerson lived by; he stood passionately for love and peace worldwide. Because this was what his heroes The Beatles stood for, and as their number one fan it was Liam's duty to honour that. By some miracle, little Liam had managed to see a videotape of the cartoon film Yellow Submarine which was full of their songs. He was instantly struck by the unique music; sounds unlike any he had heard before in his young life. His uncle, an equal Beatles-manic, gave him most of the band's discography and Liam found himself living and breathing their magical melodies of wonder.

One thing he could not relate to was their fascination with girls. Why do they sing so much about kissing girls? That's disgusting! Liam could not think of many more gross things than kissing a girl. All that spit and tongues, just... ew! Liam realized this was a part of love, and perhaps love was more complicated than he thought. He knew love was a happy energy between people which made them close. He wished the whole world could love each other. He loved his family and best friends. But he knew about an other type of love, a love where people kiss each other and sometimes don't wear clothes. Liam realized he may just be different, he doesn't need to kiss any girls in his life! Just his mum and two grandma's on the cheek.

He started his mission in life of carrying forward the musical legacy of The Beatles and what they stood for. But he could not do it alone. So he indoctrinated his three closest friends into being fans and followers of The Beatles, and they each pretended to be a member so they could perform songs to their class. Liam took the identity of Paul since he resembled him the most. He was so happy, singing songs with his best pals to the other kids in his class. He was slightly aware that they sang out of tune and in bad timing but that did not really matter. It really felt like he was doing something important. The four friends giggled together in disgust at The Beatles' fascination with girls. GOO GOO G'JOOB! 

One morning, after being dropped off at school, Liam's friend Josh (a.k.a. Ringo) approached him looking troubled.

'Liam!' Josh called out to him. 'My dad told me that boys really like girls when they're older! And we will too!'

'What do you mean?'

'He just said when boys get older all they care about is girls, it's something that happens to us when we grow up and change,' Josh explained.

Liam had heard this before from his own parents. It was something he tried to ignore, while Josh seemed resigned to his fate. For a moment they both stared at each other in panic, and then looked around the class, at the girls, as if imagining what could drive them to such a thing. Perhaps he would find a girl to play with; they could shout and swim about the coral that lies beneath the waves. That could be nice.

Two years later, now 9, Liam had moved schools. While he settled fine straightaway, he experienced a feeling unlike any other when he saw the eyes of a girl in his class named Lauren. A mixture of magical green and ocean blue, they were truly electrifying in the way they contrasted with her smooth brown skin. He had just seen a face and he could not forget the time or place where they had met. Her face glowed at him from then on seemingly forever. Despite not really being friends with her, he could not stop thinking about those gorgeous eyes. But she could never know how he felt about her, he was much too shy to talk to her as much as he wished he could. She was in the same after school dance group, and a couple of times they had been partnered briefly and held hands for the routine required, which made Liam's heart beat so fast he began to fantasise about more dance routines with more touching each other.

He was not sure yet how he felt about kissing, but he was more curious about it. He had heard about sex, something grown-ups did which apparently felt really good. Now this he was more interested in, even though he was not sure what it entailed other than being naked and something about putting his willy somewhere which did not make much sense. But there seemed to be a promise that this felt really good. He wished he could try this but he had also been told people cannot do it until they are 16. So he still had 7 years to wait until he could try it, which was disappointingly very long. Perhaps he could do it with Lauren then? The sad truth was that he did not see a future for them together. In fact he found her personality to be loud and rude. But those eyes... he could look into them forever. Was this love? It didn't feel as happy as it should, rather it felt more like a one-way obsession. He could hear Paul singing in his mind... falling, yes I am falling, and she keeps calling me back again.

This infatuation lasted almost a year until Liam moved to a different city. He got his last look at Lauren, and in a dream he would have said to her...

'Close you eyes and I'll kiss you, tomorrow I'll miss you...' 

But only in a dream. Instead he would simply miss her, while she probably forgot about him the next day. He hoped to learn more about love and girls, whom were no longer disgusting and would never be again.

A few years later, Liam found himself in a strange, hormonal, awkward, and above all horny part of his life; he was a teenager. Most of his thoughts were dedicated to girls and sex, and he wished he could be kissing girls all the time. Whenever he saw an attractive girl (almost always) he'd think ah giiirl and exhale dreamily. He remembered the wise words of his childhood friend Josh:

'When boys get older all they care about is girls,'

Boy did that come true. Liam endured two frustrating years of not getting any experience while some of his peers boasted about pulling girls and even further sexual activities. Finally at the age of 15, in a seductive corner at a party amid an atmosphere full of lust and passion, a girl he liked threw herself at him and he shared a kiss and touched lips for the first time. It felt like all his life had led to this moment, to finally feel the adrenaline and euphoria of such a simple act. Suddenly he felt all those Beatles songs about girls from his childhood erupt within him, and he wanted to sing them out loud to the world.

At 19, Liam found himself away from home at university and found real love for the first time, ironically with a girl at the city he had just left behind. He was able to see her at least every other weekend. Her name was Linda; blonde hair which glowed like the sun itself, a face of pure beauty with freckles as cute as her personality, and colourful blue eyes he loved getting lost in. Not unlike the eyes of that girl he liked when he was a kid. Something in the way she moved, attracted him like no other lover. It gave him a permanent happiness that allowed him to see the world constantly beautiful, a precious time he felt would never end. So when the love between them started to blur and become more of a hassle, she found a quick way to deal with it by breaking up with him – through a text message. The confusion, denial, and eventual heartbreak became an anchor which brought Liam down into a state of darkness. As he lied and cried alone in his room, he wished it was yesterday when all his troubles seemed so far away. Now it looked like they were here to stay.

Not much later, he visited his uncle and confided in him about his break-up, realising he had not properly spoken about it in detail to anyone. Particularly the pain of it happening through a simple text message.

'Breaking up with someone can be as hard as being dumped,' his uncle said. 'Especially when we're young, we panic and do it in ways that are easy for us, and perhaps terrible for the other person. It doesn't make them bad people, just human,'

And with that, Liam  found himself able to forgive Linda for the cruel way in which she ended their relationship. Head up, he recognised that heartbreak was just another part of life he was properly experiencing for the first time. The next year he would spend a year abroad in South America, it was better this way really. Thinking of the chicas he can meet there. There was much more to learn about love, and there would be more suffering to come as well. He still felt like there was a part of him missing, but he dealt with it much better and it would not be long before time healed this scar. This was all just life, and he found The Beatles had already taught him about this before. There will be an answer, let it be.