"Say Anything" by Elisa Wright

During my junior year of high school, just about every day after school, I would come home, turn on the VHS and watch the movie Say Anything. For the girl who went through 4 years of high school without a single date (I shit you not), Lloyd Dobler was everything I was looking for in a man, complete with trench coat and hightops. The movie was a perfectly scripted representation of my notion of true love contained in 90-something minutes and a kickass soundtrack.

I was hooked on the cool, smart romance of it all–the nerdy girl pursued by average guy with just the right amount of geek and gorgeousness. The adolescent chemistry between John Cusack and Ione Skye was so real, it would rip out my heart and diddle with its chambers. I longed for that pursuit. I already had the other components: good grades, big hair, overbearing felonious dad. All I needed was Lloyd, his Malibu and mix tapes.

He was my sensitive kickboxer of love. And, admittedly, couldn’t figure it all out in one night; he just wanted to hang with Diane.

I would've never given you a pen, Lloyd.

 
Elisa Wright sold her soul to the Devil in the 90's when she became a pharma ad writer. She's still in advertising, and has since been able to grow a new soul, with the help of her husband and 3 boys.