Can anyone somewhat relate to Dexter and Emma's relationship?

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I can absolutely relate. We were friends for close to a decade, only had a year where we were actually together, though it wasn't a bus, it was sudden cardiac arrest. No warning, no explanation, and no comfort to be had. As cheesy as it is to admit, this movie messed me up for a bit.

I only just saw it now, but I wanted to answer your question anyway because my answer is yes. Not quite as long yet, but I met my best friend in 2002. He was 14, I was 18. I kind of took him on as a little brother, I was fiercely protective of him, and he was of me as well. He told me he loved me when he was 15 or 16. I told him he was sweet and I adored him, but that he was too young. I was with someone on and off from 2003 until 2011. He was not the nicest guy. Anytime I cried on someone's shoulder over not nice boyfriend, it was often the best friend in question. He had a serious girlfriend for a while, and again, when she was not nice, he often came to me.

He moved away (only 5 hours, but still a bit of a hike) for school in September of 2011. In October of 2011, I had a bit of an event in relation to the boyfriend. I needed to get away and so best friend convinced me to go visit him at school. I packed up my junk and left on a Sunday night. While I was there I finally decided it was time to leave the boyfriend for good (I had been sitting on the decision for months, and best friend was aware of it). Best friend took this opportunity to kiss me. I had assumed if he ever did, I'd find it weird as I always sort of regarded him as my little brother. Except 2011, now he was 23 and I was 27. I did not react as I always assumed I would. I fell for him like a bag of hammers. He got scared and backed off for a school year or so for a variety of reasons. I dated other people. So did he. The following summer he moved home and arrived to find me dating someone else (though it had only been a few weeks). He pretty much immediately dropped his emotional brick wall and confessed he was in love with me. Best friend and I have been together since then. He still attends school 5 hours from home, but only for another year, and then he moves home permanently. Through all the years and other relationships and nonsense, we kept in touch, we kept close, and despite falling for each other at different times in our lives, we eventually found ourselves in the same place at the same time. I'm biased of course, but I think it's beautiful. :)

65 Roses = Cystic Fibrosis

I don’t think anyone would have difficulty in relating to the relationship between Dexter and Emma. I believe most of us have good (even “best”) friends from our earlier days that we continue to maintain contact for years without entering into a romantic relationship. However, in terms of the film, I don’t find their relationship particularly plausible, and in any case I don’t think it could have lasted that long.

Perhaps the Dexter and Emma relationship is easier to believe if we are given even one single reason why they regarded themselves as made for each other. Their characters were polar opposites, and while people may say opposites attract, I doubt the relationship could be a very happy one or continue for long. Dexter was a womanizing jerk and he didn’t care that Emma was obviously pining for him. I guess Emma, supposed to be an unattractive working girl, felt flattered by Dexter’s attention. But in real life, any self-respecting woman would leave a man like Dexter when she sees him sleeping with every woman in sight. I shudder to think what Emma had written about him in her “poems”.

People could be soul mates for many years, but only if they could relate to each other spiritually and intellectually. I see no such indication for Dexter and Emma in the film. Emma clearly didn't have a high opinion of Dexter’s silly TV shows, and Dexter insulted her lowly job as a waitress and later also her teaching. Where was the basis for a relationship that lasted almost twenty years? In real life, relationships of this sort would almost certainly come to an end when either or both get married. In the film, even when the two were either married or living with someone, they continued to see each other on their special day and shared some more than just friendly hugs and kisses. In real life, that would hardly be conducive to a happy relationship with your spouse or love interest. It is nice to think that two people of opposite sexes could be best friends over decades without romantically involved (and Dexter and Emma were involved relatively early). But in real life, when friendship reaches the highest level, love and marriage (and sex) are the natural outcomes. It is not without reason that it has become some kind of a Hollywood cliché that a female character often has a gay best friend.