OUR RELATIONSHIP

“Hey girl.”

“What’s up girl?”

“OMG…tell me you been on Facebook today!”

“I been busy at work all-day girl…what happened?”

“So…long story long. Tiffany was down at Kendra’s shop waiting to get her sew-in. Kendra was being nosey like always, you know how she be getting her clients to spill their tea and what not. So, the girl in the chair was talking about some new nigga she been messing around with; some tall dark skin nigga, that drive a purple Camaro.

“Oh lawd, Derek?”

“Girl let me finish,” she said while laughing. “This bitch going on and on talking about how he took her shopping and paid for the hair she was down there getting. Kendra says, “What’s his name?” this bitch says, “Derek”. Tiffany walked over to her and showed the girl a picture and said, “This Derek?” The girl looked at her and said, “Yes…you know him?” Girl, Tiffany said, “That’s my husband bitch,” and started slapping the shit out the girl and pulling out her sew-in! So, Tiffany goes on Facebook and airs Derek all the way out! How he out here fucking with bitches and don’t even take care of his kids. He’s driving around in a new Camaro that he six months behind on payments. Wait…how bout this bitch went live and threw all of his Jordans outside and lit them hoes on fire!”

“Oh lawd, not the Jordans! Derek needs to find a less conspicuous car to creep in.”

“Yassss, now Tiffany and Derek’s sister is going back and forth. I done popped me a bowl of popcorn and everything. I been reading this shit for the past two hours.”

“Girl, how do you find the time to be in everybody’s mess?”

“Hell, they put it up here. They must want me to be in it. Anyways…how you doing?”

“Apparently not as good as you. I saw you posted another Louis bag Jay bought you.”

“You know he likes to spoil me. What’s up with you and Troy?”

“We’re actually doing really well.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, why’d you say it like that?”

“Well, I haven’t seen you post anything about him or ya’ll on Facebook. You know what that means.”

“No, Jessica. Please tell me what it means.”

“It means, trouble in paradise!”

“I can’t with ya’ll. We’ve actually been seeing this relationship counselor and I’ve decided to treat OUR relationship like that.”

“Like what?”

“OUR relationship! I’ve been avoiding posting things that pertains to us. I just think it’s better to keep our personal relationship between us. I don’t need a bunch of people I barely know, up in my business.”

“I guess. Well, I’m about to go finish being nosey.”

“Bye, Jessica.”

“Bye, Mo.”

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF TOWN

“Jay…what up my guy!”

“Troy what’s good,” he replied. “Let me get a Hennessy straight.” he said to the bartender.

“Ain’t shit…just coolin.”

“Damn…finally able to get you out the house. I mean, it’s happy hour and not the club, but I’ll take whatever I can get. You been on lock. Monique caught you cheating or something?”

“Nah bro. I just been chillen. Focusing on getting myself right and trying to build a stronger foundation in our relationship, before we take the next step.”

“Don’t tell me you’re thinking about getting married my guy.”

“We can’t be out here chasing ass forever. Plus, I got me a good one and I ain’t trying to mess it up. I can’t afford to buy my girl a Louis bag every time I mess up.”

“Bruh,” Jay said in laughter. “I get them bags for $40 on Canal Street. I didn’t even tell you about the last time.”

“What happened?”

“Remember that bitch I bagged at the club about a month ago? Short, light skin, crazy fat ass?”

“Yea, I remember.”

“I smashed. So, we at Jess’ cousin’s baby shower and guess who’s there?”

“Get the hell out of here.”

“Facts…turns out her and Jess are first cousins. Why this bitch tells her sister, who is really close to Jess, that I smashed and the sister told Jess.”

“What you do?”

“Shiiit, I did what any nigga in my situation would do.”

“It wasn’t me!” They both said in unison and laughed.

“Hell yea. I denied the shit out of that.”

“Every other day she posts pics of what you bought her and ya’ll out on trips. Ya’ll on Facebook looking like the perfect little couple.”

“She’s full of shit. She’s too busy trying to one-up these other females online. To keep it all the way a buck with you, I probably wouldn’t be out here as much if she put as much energy in our relationship as she did on Facebook.”

“Well talk to her about it, bro. Me and Mo been seeing a relationship coach and it’s really been helping us out.”

“Ain’t no point. She’s addicted to Social Media and as long as she got her nose in other people’s business, she ain’t gone be worried about me.”

 

TROY & MONIQUE

“Hey baby. How was your day?” he said and took a seat next to her.

“Long! My feet are killing me. How was yours?”

Troy removed Monique’s shoes from her feet and began to give her a foot massage.

“Oh Lord, that feels so good baby.”

“My day went well. Showed a few houses to some potential buyers, then linked up with Jay.”

“What Jay crazy self up to? I was just talking to Jess.”

“Being Jay. Buying Jess fake Louis Vuitton bags to post on Facebook.” The two looked at each other and laughed.

“Baby,” Mo said. “I may not post all the things you do for me, or how you make me feel on Facebook, but you do know I love you and appreciate everything you do for us right?”

“Absolutely. I much rather you tell it to me than tell the world. When it comes to me and you, no one else matters. Not my mother, your mother, my friends, your friends; Our relationship—” he paused.

“Is OUR relationship,” she completed.

 

JESS & JAY

“Hey baby,” he said after walking in the house. “Hello!” he repeated.

“Oh, hey. I didn’t hear you.”

“That’s because you’re all in your damn phone. On Facebook or Snapchat. Aren’t you too old to be on there like that? Like who do you think you are?”

“What? What do you mean who do I think I am?”

“You are posting all these pictures of yourself and us, like we god damn Jay-z and Beyoncé. You really think these people care what you are doing all day?”

“Well, obviously they do. I just hit five-thousand followers. You sound like a hater.”

“No, you sound like a thirty-five-year-old kid. Whoever those five-thousand people are, need to find someone better to follow.”

“Fuck you Jay.”

“You think you could put your phone down long enough to?”

“Maybe when you’re not too busy fuckin my cousins,” She replied.

“Yea, you’re right. I am too busy fuckin your cousin…and Tasha…and Stephanie…and one of your co-workers too.” Jess’ jaw dropped to ground. “Yea, why don’t you go ahead and post that. You’re up here posting all this bullshit about how great our relationship is, knowing it’s really fucked up. You know what everybody and their mother is doing, but you couldn’t tell me how my day went. That’s your problem. You’re too busy trying to compete with these other bitches on Social Media, instead of putting the effort you should be putting into us.”

So, you’ve just read a short story about two couples and how they handle their relationships via Social Media. Jess & Jay, or should I say Jess, feels the need to broadcast the “good” of her relationship and kind of paints a false picture, or facade of how things really are. Troy and Mo have decided to keep their relationship to themselves and it appears that they have been very happy. Who’s way is better?

In my opinion, there is no right or wrong way to handle your relationship. I put an emphasis on “handle” and “your” because those are the key words in that sentence. A relationship consists of two individuals (unless you have a polygamous one) and what works for one couple may not work for another. Find out what works for you and your significant other and handle it accordingly. With the emergence of Social Media, I do believe people are more concerned with how their relationship is perceived by outsiders, than the actual health of their relationship. Therefore people tend to focus more on making the relationship look good, than putting forth the effort to improve it. It’s sort of like putting a fresh coat of paint on the outside of an old house, deteriorating on the inside. Fix the inside and stop worrying about what other people think. It’s YOUR relationship.

-Dr. Love