OMG. Yes. This kind of crap makes me blazingly angry. Especially as this person also knows how to manipulate other people, to the point where, when you finally call them out on their behaviour, they back off—tears in eyes—protesting ...oh, but I didn't MEAN it like that! Not AT ALL! How could you think that of me? And everybody else around them goes ...awwww... AARGhhhh. Avoid these people like the plague. This shit is hotwired into their psyche. They might even be psychopaths. They will not ever change. Do not fall in love with them. Do not hire them. Do not allow them to give birth to you. Do not invite them into your home. Do not speak to them on the street. Do not move to the same town where they live.... ............. You're right. A traumatised character eventually recognising that another character is truly nice, and not just playing power games as above? That would make a great story.
Ah... Inks has been surrounded by irritating people for a long time.... I cannot be myself around others in the general public, but every weirdo seems to sense that I am a kindred spirit. They come up to me and ask me questions, am I that appealing? Do I look sad and pathetic? I do not know, but there was this older woman who talked my ears off all the time. She was more like a fat apple then a pear shape, with a fat face, pulled back hair - thick glasses and a nauseously nasal whine in her voice. Her laugh was creepy, "Eheeheeeeheeee" like some a witch's cackle on helium. She would also talk for many minutes on end without so much as even a simple retort. I could be doing my work and I would just have to endure 10-15 minutes of non-stop blathering about how she doesn't like something. The woman carried half a pharmacy in her oversized bag and would stop to snort her "Head-On" and other items by ramming the stick up her nose. Then she would cough and gag and say it burns, and complain about her doctor changing up her medication. She also paced incessantly, back and forth, swaying her arms and it looked like she constantly was doing a "peepee dance". Somehow I ventured into "best friend" zone and that's when I started to learn that she also hates just about everyone else. One of the most disturbing revelations was when she said, completely out of the blue, without any provocation or any discussion, "I'm a 45 year old virgin. Haaaa. Eheeeheeee." WHAT?! What brought that out!? I am in utter disbelief. Apparently she had just seen "The 40 year old virgin" and considered herself to a be a "wizard" or something. Yay! Now, I am treated to another horrible fact that cannot be mind-bleached out. While the woman also felt the urge to announce her bowel movements, this was too much to bear at work with about fifteen customers nearby. All the weird noises, over-application of medicines and nasal sprays, and silly stories were replaced by the thought of her being like this throughout her entire life - and I freaking lost it. I could not handle it and I could not even work up the courage to shut her up. I shut down, called my manager and left to drink four 16 oz cups of Coke and stuff my face full of bread. Coping mechanisms of my youth... I could not handle it. I could not. Still cannot. Always one nutter at work - least I am not it.
This story has a massive gap from where you left it to where you fell in love... But I bet it's a great read!!
I know people are teasing with their comments but just to confirm, I don't only want stories where you end up falling in love. I'm not looking to 'steal' any one person's experience, just looking for a combination of traits I can give the protagonists to make them rub each other up the wrong way... then eventually the right way.
In that case, I have a couple more!! lol There was this girl Molly who worked at the newspaper with me. Loud. Didn't know how to use her inside voice. Immature. Always on her cell phone. I mean always. It was the worst addiction I've ever seen. Anyway. She drove me crazy. She was always butting into conversations that she wasn't invited into, making suggestions to problems when no one asked her opinion, just nosey in general. And she always had a different friend around, and her personality would change depending on who she was with. Like she thought that having a lot of friends made her look cool and important. Eventually though, I realized she wasn't butting in to conversations to be rude. She was genuinely just trying to help. She was a very concerned person and didn't like to see people struggle. We became best friends after a while, attached at the hip. Blair (the guy from my previous post) hated her because she was honest and told him how she felt. He refused to hang out with me if she was there, and I refused to comply with an ultimatum. lol Anyway. Molly ended up being pretty awesome, except for a few things. She liked to complain regularly about things she could change but put no effort into changing. Like she was upset that she was single--there were guys she was interested in but refused to pursue. Her dad grounded her (a 20-year-old) regularly--I told her to move out, but she said her dad wouldn't "let" her... like she needed his permission. The longer I was friends with her, the longer I realized she did just have a lot of friends because it made her feel cool. And she would change herself to act like them because she wasn't comfortable with her own personality. Our friendship eventually ended because of this one girl. Jessica. Ugh. Jessica got under my skin from the second I met her. She just gave me a bad vibe. She worked at the radio station near my newspaper office, so I saw her regularly. She was one of those people who tried way too hard to look and sound cool. Her voice was deep and drawn out, like a stoned hippy. I knew it wasn't how she was naturally supposed to talk because when you got her excited or angry, her voice was much higher pitched. She always talked about how she went out drinking or how she smoked pot because she thought her "exciting" life would make people jealous. She also regularly bragged about her parent's money and what a great private high school she went to and how expensive her clothes were and blah blah blah. I tried to be nice to her. I tried to look past the fake and accept her. But even when she was being real, I had a hard time. When me and Blair were in an off period, he started hitting on her. Texting and calling. She pretended she wasn't interested in him because he was such a tool. But we all knew better. She eventually started coming to our office to "visit" but we all knew it was to see him. One day we went out to have a cigarette, me and her. And she said to me, "Blair keeps asking me out. I keep telling him no because I could never do that to you." And I knew right then she liked him. Because if she didn't, that would've been her reason for not going on a date with him, that she didn't like him. By her saying that to me, that was her roundabout way of asking me for permission to date him. I didn't give it. And they never dated. lol Jessica hated Molly, my best friend. She found her annoying and loud, but she was polite to her anyway. Well for some reason, Jessica decided she wanted a minion and chose Molly for the role. They started hanging out without me all the time, texting and calling and having inside jokes. Molly's personality started changing permanently, turning more mean and nasty. I called her out on it, blaming it on that troll Jessica. And Molly freaked out on me. She went she told Jessica what I said and Jessica proceeded to tell her how I used to find Molly incredibly annoying and didn't like her when I first met her (leaving out the part where Jessica herself had said those same things weekly until a month before). So then Molly cut me out of her life, clinging to Jessica. And any time Molly thought about contacting me, Jessica was right in her ear, telling her I was an awful person and she should just stay away from me (or so a mutual friend told me). We never talked again. Stupid Jessica.
I did not fall in love with her, you must be confused! She is older than my own mother and is one of those people which I was forced to interact with despite my internal revulsion. I do not let my feelings be shared with others because I am a horrible person! As for when and who I fell in love with.... I did not even know it... though I really should have. Perhaps Inks is the irritating person, I am/was incapable of recognizing my own feelings even if you tell me them. I enjoy making boys cry and tend to be abrasive when I drop my guard a bit. Deep inside, I am pretty protective and meek, but I do love the thrill of being outside of my comfort zone in certain ways. It is like how I cannot dance, but I will gladly assert myself on others when you are a comrade. I am soft on moe-types and I want to hug abrasive and crass people - "normals" do not get my attention typically. As strong as I am, I simply love taking my place in someone's lap and snuggling into them. Scratch my head a bit and well... Inks becomes an entirely different person. I am really affectionate in private, but I maintain such a high guard in daily life that few things cause it to shake. Most people do not even know I am married - I do not wear the ring.
This thread has been really helpful. I just wish the ideas part of my brain worked as well as many of the writers on here. Maybe I should be a ghost writer... I just want someone to tell me "here, these are your two characters" and then I can write it.
