Faking it Till They Make It

Their carefully concocted "relationship" was required to have a digital presence, concocting their online profiles in such a way as to help convince their skeptical families. Pragmatic Ethan painted a series of innocent yet passing romantic Instagram posts.

Ava, however, had a rather crude approach towards promoting their photograph on social networks, which eventually led to a gathering of several bloopers. For one photo, they went to the farmers' market, with a basket of fresh organic vegetables positioned carelessly between them. Though looking very classy in a white shirt with sunlight gleaming from it, Ethan has absolutely no clue about a few errant strands of parsley in Ava's hair that were lost on his mind while posing for the shoot. Caption: "Having a great Saturday morning with my beautiful Ava. Fresh produce and even fresher love!" The picture, by contrast, captured Ava with a lop-sided look on her face and with what a commenter would later describe as "rather large parsley garnish." Some comments read, "Cute!" or "Is that parsley in your hair?" Adding to the commentary was Ava's hurried retort of "It's a statement piece!" which only added to the conjecture.

Attempt number two took a little more effort. Ethan suggested they take a picture in a local dog park, which Ava had taken fancy to. They found a very furry golden retriever, posed, and click! Ava playingfully scratched the dog's ears while Ethan threw his arm around her in a protective fashion. Caption: "Puppy love, and real love. Does it get better than this?" This photo was nearly successful, until a particularly observant follower pointed out the very piercing scratches on both Ava's left arm and on the dog's back,as more chaotic than romantic adventures.

The ensuing online battle over whether their relationship was real had almost become their laughter and anxiety. It started on a down note when Ethan, wanting to make a stronger online statement, jumped on the bandwagon of couple's reels. A choreographed dance to a trending TikTok song was his idea. Bless Ava's poor dancing skills. Poor Ava understood "choreographed" in a rather loose sense.

What followed was a video of Ethan attempting a smooth salsa move, with Ava flailing in the background and vaguely resembling a couple in a romantic illusion, if at all. The video ends with Ava tripping over Ethan's legs and then ending up on the floor. While decision and sight clumsiness surely presented themselves, Ethan captioned it: "Weekending into the dance! couplegoals unexpectedlyfunny." The comments section quickly became a hilarious war ground, with anything from "You nailed it!" to "I've seen newborn giraffes dance with more elegance."

On the flipside of this sassy online persona Ava found herself in, she thought it smart to post an image of drowsy Ethan with his mouth akimbo and drool on the pillow. "My handsome goofball. He's still cute while asleep!" It's a less than ideal depiction of romance. Ethan shot back over text: "Delete that picture. Right Now." Chastened, Ava quickly obliged but only after a screenshot of the deleted picture was being circulated like a wildfire amidst their friends.

More constant pressure of maintaining aone-of-a-kind online identity was starting to wear them out. The planned posts that were supposed Creating a romantic feel on their social media accounts was fast becoming a charade calculated to nip the life-breath out of everything.

A frustrating number of hours spent choosing filters, captions, and angles betrayed the intent of their agreement to be casual in its execution. Their bitesized charade had moved to new levels of intensity, threatening to consume their lives. Slumped in worn-out silence on the sofa after a long and asana stressful day spent planning a foray to a local vineyard, Ava and Ethan gazed through the screen of their laptop at a picture of them against the carefully tended vineyard, faces set in obviously false smiles. "This is ridiculous," Ava finally yelled after throwing a cushion on the floor. "We spend more time pretending on social media than in real life." Ethan agreed. "Just to satisfy our families?" "Exactly," Ava said. "It's like our lives are lived for Instagram instead of for ourselves."

They hadn't remained exhausted because of merely trying to master social media management, but perhaps something deeper-the fact that they could hardly find space for the sincere bond they had made beneath the mantle of a fabricated romance. Online image-making was galloping wild over their real emotions. The following morning, Ava woke up with a little plan. She would leave the enduring act of faking it on social media. No more perfectly crafted. This was a picture of sleeping Ethan, below the inscription, minus the drool: "This is real life"! 

messy, slightly, endearing, and most of all, more us." To her surprise, the overall response was overwhelming. Friends and families seemed to appreciate the genuine portrayal of their relationship- recognizing a sincerity that was missing from the formerly polished images. It was never about perfect photos or synchronized dance moves, but about sharing real moments: imperfect moments that are true. Ethan was relieved as well; he too had adopted the new approach.

He posted a picture of himself cooking breakfast, burnt toast included, right along the lines of "My gourmet might not always look great on Instagram, but the love poured into them will always be real." Their shift towards authenticity did not mean a void in their life online; rather the focus changed a little. They continued to post about their days, but now their posts were real reflections of their connection together, instead of a consummate version of it.

The cheeky banter, the shared laughter, mistakes made in between- these became the bits of their blossoming relationship that resonated much more closely with both their followers and, importantly, with one another. The zealous pressure of maintaining an immaculate facade was failing fast, fading out, leaving behind a refreshing sigh of reprieve and the realization that genuine feeling was what mattered more than any carefully-assembled online presentation.

The false relationship served its purpose, albeit quite the opposite, paving way to something real and wildly satisfying. They were still acting on the unknowns of their feelings, but at least now it was their own doing and not to maintain a fanciful online view. Their journey was just started; but one thing was for sure, their social media antics, 

And so chaotic, but that has absolutely got them a step closer to real love. One might have called it an elaborate deception, but the feelings it released were undeniably genuine. The stories went on, one real post after another.