It is hard to pinpoint just where this story begins. Looking back I still can't figure out exactly where things began to shift, but I am glad they did...for better or worse.
(If you are looking to get off quickly then get out now or you can skip ahead a few pages, the back story might take a while.)
We met towards the end of my freshman year of college. What should probably have been a casual acquaintance somehow became so much more. At the time I was dating a guy I met through a campus fellowship (that is another long story in itself). Since he was a sophomore, and no longer required to live on campus, he had an apartment with two of his best friends. His friend, Kevin, was dating a local girl who was in her senior year of high school named Michelle. We were polite since we often ran into each other when we all hung out together on the weekends but that was about it. In all honesty, I believe that he only dated her because she had a car and she was "freaky."
Being the virginal "church girl," hearing Michelle's vulgar language and explicit descriptions of her sexual feats and hearing Kevin brag about the things they were doing grossed me out. Lee and I made out pretty regularly but I had no intentions of sleeping with him before marriage! He was my first REAL boyfriend and having grown up in church I was still very repressed in my ideas about sex. In hindsight, I think that may have been what first intrigued Michelle about me.
She began to give me rides to the boys' apartment from campus on weekends. I wouldn't know until later just how far out of the way she was going to get me first but at the time I just appreciated that I wouldn't have to catch the train or wait for Lee to come to me.
By the time summer break rolled around I had an internship outside of the city that provided me with a company car (I know right!) so I did not have to rely on her for rides anymore. We still hung out as a group every now and then, going hiking or to the lake but our interaction somewhat dwindled. I found that she started spending more and more time at the apartment even when Kevin was not home. She was making more attempts to talk to me. She seemed to have mellowed a bit easing up on the vulgar language around me and in turn I had mellowed a bit as well. I still had no intentions of losing my virginity any time soon but I was no longer disturbed by her blunt and frank talk of her sex life. I wouldn't say we had become friends but we were friendly.
That summer her boyfriend's dad bought him a car and shortly thereafter they broke up. I was sad for her but I figured I wouldn't be seeing her anymore since we were not really friends outside of their relationship. She had a new job and school was starting soon anyway, so that was that.
School started back up and things became more hectic. I had been promoted to the Co-editor of the school paper (mainly due to the fact that I had gotten the previous year's editor out of a bind by taking over layout when she was sick), my course load had gotten heavier since I had added a minor to my program, and I tried to spend as much time as possible with Lee.
Walking across campus one random afternoon I was shocked to cross paths with Michelle. She was there to meet up with her new boyfriend. We only spoke briefly but exchanged numbers with the promise to keep in touch despite her no longer being involved with Kevin. I didn't really think anything of it because it just felt like one of those things that you say without really meaning it.
Life resumed, classes were going well, the newspaper was flourishing. The only hiccup in the program was my relationship with Lee. We broke up, why I don't remember, but it was the first of several break ups between us so forgive my lapse in memory. I suddenly had more free time on the weekends but that was surprisingly short-lived. I don't know how her timing was so perfect but a couple months after bumping into Michelle on campus she called out of the blue on one of the first weekends I had free in a long time.
I had been planning to sit around my dorm and mope. Most of my friends had gone to a party or already had other plans that didn't involve me, since I had been spending all of my free time up until that point wrapped up with Lee. I answered the phone ready to beg out of another invitation when I heard the old familiar voice asking to go bowling. I agreed because it would be outside of the city so I wouldn't have much chance of running into any of Lee and my mutual friends. I could just relax and not have to focus on the failed relationship!
We had a great time! We bowled several games and then stopped at a local bar for a drink. Of course being the "good girl" I was, I tried to talk her out of this since we were both underage but she was very persistent and I was still depressed so I gave in faster than either of us anticipated. We talked until way into the night so we went to her place to catch a few zzz's before she took me home.
Within a couple of weeks I was back together with Lee but Michelle and I continued our friendship (somewhat to his dismay). Michelle and I hung out more and more often since Lee had to pick up another job to help pay for his school expenses. Almost every week we spent at least one night talking or hanging out. It was during this time that Michelle became one of my closest friends. We talked about EVERYTHING! She listened to me talk about my classes, my faith and even my relationship with Lee. I listened to her talk about her issues with her mom, her job and her relationships. We balanced each other well. She drew out my wild side, I gave her a stable friend she could depend on who didn't ask for anything in return. I discovered that I was her only female friend because most could not deal with her blunt, brash talk.
She was really into astrology so when she discovered our birthdays were only three days apart she figured it was fate that we had become friends. She came with me to church, I went with her to the bars. And we talked. For hours on end we talked. We told each other any and everything. When I lost my virginity the following summer, she was one of the first calls I made. When her boyfriend cheated on her I helped her stalk him so she could get closure. In short we became the best of friends. At least a couple of times a month we had sleepovers. She became good friends with some of my girlfriends. Life was good.
Or so I thought. One night we somehow ended up playing truth or dare with a mixed group of friends. I won't bore you with the details (I ALWAYS choose truth!) or the silly dares we made. The thing that stands out about that night is her asking me which of my friends I would want to date if I were a guy. Joking it off I gave all of the reasons (without betraying their confidence) I would not date any of them. I had never thought of a woman in that way and had no plans to start now. The game continued a little while longer and that question was forgotten.
She and another friend spent the night in my room that night. I could tell she was upset but she wouldn't tell me why. After my other friend was soundly asleep Michelle turned to me and told me that I deserved so much better than Lee. She told me she would treat me like a queen both in and out of the bedroom. Knowing how she liked to get a shock out of people I figured she was just talking like that to get a reaction out of me and because she may have had too much to drink. However, that was not the last I heard of the subject. She didn't bring it up often but she would make little comments like, "I could have you if I wanted to," or "I would have you climbing the walls if you were mine." But like I said she liked saying things for the shock value and I knew that she was not into women so I just took these statements as a joke.
Our friendship remained strong and after graduation I moved back north with my family to save money and look for a job. We still talked frequently but both of us led busy lives. My life no longer involved Lee as we had finally broken up for the last time. Life was going well but didn't provide either of us many opportunities to see each other since we now lived 11 hours away by car. As luck would have it, when I was booking the return flight from my family vacation we ended up with a layover in Michelle's city. I let her know several weeks out that I would be in town that Saturday and would love to meet up with her for lunch even though it would have to be at the airport since my layover was only a couple of hours long.
I was so excited to see her again! It had been over a year and I was looking forward to just catching up with her face to face for a little while. I texted her the night before and the morning of to remind her when she should get to the airport since I wouldn't have a lot of time. She texted me back a smiley face and told me she couldn't wait! I texted her as soon as the plane touched down to try to figure out exactly where she was. I still hadn't heard back from her by the time we deplaned. I texted her several times over the next half an hour but still got no response. Finally, I called thinking that maybe she wasn't getting the text messages. She didn't answer. At this point I began to worry. All sorts of thoughts of her being hurt or in an accident ran through my head in the seconds after I heard her voicemail come on. But none of them had a chance to fully register before my cell rang in my hand.
I answered with a bright hello when I noticed the caller ID said Michelle. She sounded as if I had just awakened her out of her slumber and I said as much. She replied that she had been asleep and didn't see my text messages. I called her on her bs, "You texted me back last night and first thing this morning!"
"Why aren't you here? I have been waiting for two weeks to see you and you just don't bother to show up? What is going on?"
She started with a bull shit excuse, "The time just got away from me."
"I don't buy that. I texted you less than two hours ago when we were boarding. How long have we known each other? I know when you are trying to skirt an issue. What is really going on here? No more bs excuses, just be straight with me."
