To The Bicycle To My Third Wheel,

In high school, I always felt like I was the third wheel to all of you. You probably knew this. I was always hanging around, interrupting dates, being the middle man messenger and generally a third person in the relationship, even when I didn't want to be.

There are a lot of really great things about being a third wheel. All throughout high school, you guys were there for me; every single one of you bicycles (my friends in relationships) were like a little family. I enjoy love, and I love being around love. As much as I like to say that I'm a stone cold heartless gal who could care less about it, I love it.

To my best friends' boyfriends: thanks for letting me torture you mercilessly, whether I was questioning your intentions with my best friend or just making fun of you so you always knew who was really number one in the little trio (me, always). Even though you didn't really have the choice of being my friend, you accepted it anyway, and with a ton of grace (usually). Thanks for worrying about me, thanks for giving me boy advice and telling me straight up if that really cute guy who I thought was into me totally wasn't.

To my best friend: thanks for not totally ditching me when you got a boyfriend. It sounds extremely lame, but there were moments when I worried our friendship wouldn't be able to survive the boy you were dating at the time, but you let me hang around, make inappropriate jokes, and basically adopt myself as your child/third wheel in your relationship.

So, thank you for being in love. Thank you for showing me what it looks like to be happy and dependent on someone else, while also not being too dependent. Thank you for letting me tag along on your lunch dates because all my other friends were busy, and for not being too annoyed with me when I would invite myself to these said lunch dates. It can be hard to lose your best gal pals to some guy they met at the homecoming dance, but being your third wheel helped me feel like you all still cared about me.

Also, thank you for showing me what not to do. Not every moment of your relationships was happy and fun, so sometimes, being the third wheel was stressful as heck. But I learned so much from it, like the how to's and how not to's of being in a relationship. I saw all the tears and all the pain on both sides. Thank you for making me see that, even though it can be hard, it definitely can be worth it. For teaching me not give up at the first sign of pain or insecurity, thank you for giving me a look into your relationships, and into relationships in general.

Being in a relationship is hard, and even though there were ups and downs, I learned from all of you how great it could be. I saw how great being in like and being in love with someone could be, even if it doesn't always work out. It's something that I don't know if I've ever truly experienced, but you made me want to. Being the awkward third wheel isn't always a bad thing after all.