Imagine this: within the span of an hour, you've just found out that your girlfriend of two years, Samantha, was not only cheating on you, but she's been "trying to figure out how to break up with you in the nicest way possible."
You're sitting on the edge of her duvet when she tells you this. Downstairs, you can hear her mother casually laughing at something on television, as if your whole world hasn't just crashed down around you. You feel everything at once, but more than anything, you feel the crushing weight of defeat.
That was the case for me on a regular weekday. I came over to my girlfriend's house because she said that she wanted to talk about something. I didn't even have a hint about just how far left our conversation would end up going. Really, it wasn't much of a conversation, as it was more or less her revealing her dirty secrets all in one sitting--but still, I hadn't seen it coming.
"I just wanted you to come over so that you could take your stuff with you..."
I looked down to where she just nodded, and there was a box with all of the old clothes I had left at her house in the past, a few miscellaneous things like video games I stopped playing, some shoes--it's all there. Somehow, it was more offensive that she folded everything carefully, like it didn't bother her to pack up everything that reminded her of me. It was a figurative nail in the coffin, there was no coming back from her decision.
"So, who is he?" I asked, because the whole time that she had been talking, I stayed silent--but the anger had started to rise.
"He's nobody you would know," she said, "It all happened organically. I wasn't looking for him, and he wasn't looking for me."
"And here we are..." I mumbled, "...so, you really mean it? Two years down the drain?"
She nodded, "I mean it...I just had to be sure."
I couldn't help but to laugh, "You know...you haven't even apologized for being a fucking cheater...you just kind of blew everything up, and I'm supposed to stay calm and let you get away with it?"
"No, no--" Samantha started, grabbing me by the forearm, "No, I'm just trying to give you the chance to find real love."
I shook her off, beginning to raise my voice even with her mother downstairs: "So, we didn't have real love? So every time that you told me you loved me was bullshit?"
"Not every time, but at some point..."
I was already standing up and grabbing the box of my stuff. I guess I did notice a shift in her behavior at one point, a level of disconnection--less time that we spent together, getting brushed off for dates that I tried to initiate. She would always say she was tired from her university classes, but now I knew that she had been using her energy on someone else.
When we decided to go to different universities, I guess we had already sealed our fate--but it still just felt too abrupt.
And then to have to do the walk of shame (a different kind) past her mother...
My face was burning, I could feel how red my cheeks were. Ms. Dawson was sitting on the sofa as I eased past her, but not without interaction.
"Adam," her voice was bright, lively, oblivious.
"Goodbye, Ms. Dawson," I said, but before I could leave she piped up: "Wait, wait--"
She powered off the television, and came to stand in front of the door. My hand was already wrapped around the knob, ready to bolt, but she placed her own hand over mine and I let go.
"What's going on?" She asked, and her eyes markedly landed on the box I held in my hands. She looked in my eyes then, and I could tell that she knew. I had to stop myself from shedding a tear, any tear at all wasn't fucking worth it. My older brother would be hysterical with laughter if he knew that I was even close to bawling over a girl; he, unlike me, chose the life of a bachelor over commitment.
"You and Sam broke up?" She asked, and I figured that no answer was equivalent to an affirmative one, so I grabbed the doorknob again and mumbled another goodbye. This time, she didn't try to stop me, and I felt it then: that one chapter of my life had come to an end.
______
I had to admit that being at home every day was starting to drive me insane. I didn't have too many friends because most of us grew apart when I started dating Samantha, so a lot of my time was spent playing games or going to class, and those two things had begun to bleed into each other.
It felt like I had to learn how to live individually again, like every part of my life was somehow related to Samantha. Without her, I was aimless.
I had spent at least two weeks moping when out of the blue, I received a text message from the cause herself: Samantha.
"Adam, I know how I ended things really wasn't fair to you, but I wondered if you would be willing to come over tomorrow night...so that I can make it up to you."
It reminded me of the text messages that Samantha would send after she and I had an argument, the sexual innuendo wasn't wasted on me. Truthfully, heartbreak had overridden lust a week ago, but I had been still holding onto the hope that I would get a text from her--and there it was.
It wasn't a promise that we would get back together like I wanted, but it was something that showed me that she was remorseful about blindsiding me.
I didn't even think about it, I just responded: "I'll be there at seven if that's okay."
"Seven is perfect," she responded.
I had no idea what to wear, I just knew that I wanted her to regret leaving me. So, for the first time in two weeks, I dragged a comb through my hair, I put on fresh clothes, a spray of cologne--the works.
It was six-thirty when I left my house, and a few minutes to seven when I got to Samantha's. I knocked on the door that I hadn't expected to see again, and I waited.
A few minutes went by before the door opened, and Samantha's mom stood there instead. She was wearing a short, black dress and a pair of high heels, but I was so caught up in getting to see Samantha that I hardly looked at her.
"Uh...Sam asked me to come over." I said to her, and she stepped aside with her response, "Oh Adam, please come in."
"Thank you," I said, going straight to the couch to sit down.
I couldn't stop myself from erratically tapping my feet on the floor as I waited for Samantha to come down the stairs. I was so eager that my stomach was all knotted up.
But, then, all of that just evaporated with one question from Samantha's mom:
"Adam," she said, as she sat down on the couch next to me. I turned to look at her, and she looked at me: "Can I be honest with you?"
I didn't say anything, not a yes or a no, I just stared at her because I was starting to pick up on something--like maybe Samantha had sent that text message and then backed out at the last second, maybe she wasn't even here. The longer that I looked at Ms. Dawson, the clearer it became that Samantha really wasn't around.
"I'm sorry, honey...but, she's made it clear that she's really done, and she's already moving on."
And suddenly I was right back in that room where she broke up with me, and the two weeks that I had spent away to process weren't worth anything.
"B-but," I said, "She texted me, she told me to come over..."
Ms. Dawson shook her head, "She didn't text you...I texted you."
I processed that slowly, feeling my heart break all over again. There really wasn't a chance of reconciliation. But, before I could completely spiral out of control, Ms. Dawson cupped the side of my face affectionately before she continued to speak in a softer, more personal tone:
"Ever since my ex-husband cheated and left me, I have a particular disdain for how my daughter handled your relationship. I don't think anyone deserves to be treated that way, and I know that when it happened to me--at first, I wanted my husband back...but, then I wanted revenge."
And then it happened: her smoldering blue eyes unmistakably went down to my lips, as she proceeded to hint at something I hadn't thought of until then: "I wanted to do something that would make my husband feel as much pain as I felt when I found out that he cheated. You see, my daughter takes after her father in that way...and I'd prefer to teach her this lesson sooner rather than later."
"So..." her hand tightened slightly around my jaw, nails firmly pressing into my skin, before she leaned forward and kissed me softly, just a brush of our lips together and then she released me. I sat there panting, barely breathing as my nerves bounced out of control. Her smell was as lusty as she seemed: a blend of roses, soap, and something that was reeking of pheromones, like she was already...wet.
Just thinking of Samantha's mother being wet should have been triggering more guilt than it was, but I had started to picture things that went past guilt and far into territory that couldn't be returned from.