Love Plus One

by Trisha Leone 11/20/2019

I saw him in December. He was holding a beer in each hand at his cousin’s wedding. Hanging with the guys while all the girls checked him out. Weddings are great for bringing the family together and seeing how everyone has grown up while we were all living our lives in faraway places. He’s a star college football player. Last week he caught an interception. I know that because I was with my sister in Georgia. He was playing in Missouri and she was keeping track of the stats on her phone. I thought she would be sad that she was missing the game, but she surprised me when she said it was a lot less stressful to cheer him on from a distance. I love it when moments of truth pop out from nowhere. 

With his good looks, sense of humor, and easy smile he could easily have any girl he wanted. However, there’s a catch, he has older sisters. I could stop there, but not really. These older sisters are tougher than most and they aren’t about to let just any girl waltz up and take a seat next to their brother—especially gold-diggers, slackers, or thin-skinned beauty queens who are afraid to break a nail. There are tests that must be passed. Tests that require things like crawling under barbed-wire fences, riding a cantankerous mule, or coon hunting in freezing weather into the early morning hours—just everyday skills that any girl worth her salt would have. And for anyone who can pass these quality-control checkpoints his sisters have set up, there’s still something more.

Any girl who falls in love with this special guy will never have his whole heart. It’s already taken by someone he’s known since the day he was born. He has been by her side his entire life. He took her to prom, she’s on the sidelines at all of his games, she’s his date at the movies, and nothing will ever come between them. He’s got her back and she has his. She has now grown into a beautiful woman that possesses something so valuable that no other woman, no matter how pretty or kind or loving will ever have—she has an extra chromosome.

She will always be his first love. She’s the light in his eyes and the fire in his heart. To love him, you must love her, for they share the same heart and soul, brother and sister, best friends forever.

Song Lyrics

LOVE PLUS ONE

I saw him in December, he was standing with a group of friends

Laughing and drinking a beer, swapping stories about a long weekend    

He smiled at some girls in the corner, but he was keeping his eye on one 

Who was out on the dance floor, twirling around having fun

CHORUS

He’s already taken, by a girl he’s always known

She’s the light in his eyes and the fire deep in his heart 

What they have together Is unbreakable and strong 

It’s a love plus one, a love that’s all their own 

It’s a love plus one chromosome

She stands on the sidelines at his college football games 

He hears her voice in the crowd when she yells out his name 

And though the world is knocking at his door, It’ll just have to wait

She’s counting on him and he knows he can’t be late 

Hand in hand they’re showing the world a different kind of love 

Everyone’s watching and nothing can stop them 

Cause they’ve got a love plus one