This whole idea of quarantine has felt like a real-life sci-fi movie so far (shoutout to everyone so bored that they’re watching Contagion, 2012 and other movies designed to scare the shit out of you). While most people think that nothing really positive can come out of this time, I developed the opposite sentiment. With all these rules on social distancing, who would have thought that I would get boo’d up during quarantine?
Like most cringey stories, I met my Quarantine QT online on Bumble (at least it wasn’t Tinder!). Honestly, I didn’t even want to give the dude a chance in the beginning because I had only downloaded the app for jokes. I wasn’t expecting to even be romantically involved with anyone, considering that I had gotten out of a relationship in January. Even before quarantine started, this guy and I were hanging out together pretty much every day. Despite him initially seeming like a distraction, our hangouts had rejuvenated me to finish the rest of the semester strong.
But then, as I was sitting on my new whatever-this-is-don’t-wanna-talk-about-it-till-we-absolutely-have-to’s futon sofa, the email that changed all of our lives at Western had landed its way into my inbox. Nevertheless, I was excited! However, I was nervous and even a little disappointed because I had finally gotten my motivation back, but knew I was going to have to adjust again. The funny thing was that we both had the same thing in mind: “now we get to bother each other even more.”
At first, I admit that I was dumb and didn’t take the disease seriously, so we spent that first weekend partying it up during Saint Patty’s weekend. Again, somehow making seemingly negative decisions sometimes has interestingly advantageous outcomes. But, before y’all come after me, I am now limiting contact with as many people and staying home as much as possible.
As social distancing became a lot more emphasized, my roomies decided to book Greyhounds as fast as humanly possible. Then, my new Ting saw my Snapchat Story of the nasty mess of a house that the roomies left behind for me as a gift and came to help me clean. As we were sweeping to the beat of Jay Z’s Run This Town, we came up with our own grandiose idea.
We had already been seeing each other every day, my only contact with people had basically been my roomies and him up until that point, so we agreed to social distance together. I was nervous because I was literally going to be living with a guy that I had only known for about a month and a half at this point. It went against ALL ideas of what I thought dating was supposed to entail. In fact, it felt like we were doing the opposite of the process. I was scared of all things going wrong: getting sick of each other, how cleaning would work, how food would work, if I would get enough time to get things done, if this is even a good idea for a budding relationship. Though I was with Bumblebae for most of quarantine, in the times I wasn’t, I had plenty of opportunities to overthink.
Surprisingly, the first week of quarantining REALLY brought us together. He was staying at my place because it’s cozier and I had more than just a meat locker for a fridge. Instead of just lazing around, which we definitely did a lot, we got creative with our time spent together. We did start to develop a schedule, which was cute while truthfully a bit uncomfortable because I didn’t want any type of codependency to ensue.
Things weren’t always amazing, his little leftover curly hairs in the bathroom and not always cleaning dishes right away did start to annoy me. Instead of getting angry, I challenged myself to try to speak about my concerns in a more productive manner. It really added a different level of respect and communication to our relationship because I learned how he wanted to be communicated to, and I learned how to get my needs met without sounding like a nagging bitch.
Our days were filled with rounds of Bananagrams, Ubereats at 3 AM, steamy shower sessions, rap and piano jamming sessions, taking cringey Snapchats together and getting competitive while playing Overcooked and almost throwing the PS4 controller at him: we were in our own world. I opened up to him, crying about the past, while he held me and danced, letting my fears evaporate from me. Sure, we weren’t getting much school work done (I still am not if we’re being honest here), but we were building a strong foundation to a relationship without even knowing it.
Then, my roomies decided to come back because they couldn’t concentrate at home.
As the pattern here is nerves and anxiety, y’all could guess that I was afraid that it would affect our budding relationship. We were clearly on a path to being in one, but both of us didn’t really want to say it first, and I just wanted him to man up already (yeah, I can be traditional sometimes)! I was overthinking so much that I thought maybe he began to just see me as a roommate. However, near the end of our little cohabiting rendezvous together, we definitely needed a bit of space.
After the roomies came back and a few days of space, we went back to spending every single day with each other. Our relationship wasn’t ready for us to live together, but we had been through a lot in such a short amount of time and it made quarantine much more bearable. Despite being in the midst of a global pandemic, we decided to just have fun and enjoy each others’ company. Ironically, Corona actually made our relationship happen in the first place! It guided us to one another, making us prioritize each other when there were so many reasons to stay apart. In a time of such extreme uncertainty, I’ve found a guy that I’m extremely certain about. It’s insane how Corona Time (cue my meme lovers) has been characterized with negativity, but this is the one thing that has made me look outside and appreciate the sunshine, even if it’s from the window in my room.
Overall, it’s been a spooky and generally blah time for everyone. Even if it’s not a romantic relationship, taking time to get closer to your friends or loved ones will hopefully instill a little more positivity and gratuity. In spite of this crisis, find ways to feel closer to those around you to create stronger bonds than ever and perhaps, you’ll end up with your own Quarantine QT!
SPECIAL CREDIT: My Quarantine QT was adamant that all of my readers should know his real name is Mandela Massina and that he helped edit this article.
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