Page 11 of Destroying My Ex

“Does this mean you’re breaking up with me? Your dad would lose his cushy job then….”

“I said to shut up, and if you threaten my father again, the deal is off. You and I are going to go on as usual, but you won’t mess with my education, and I won’t be at your beck and call.”

“I’ll be interning this summer at one of your family’s company branches in Europe. I have a meeting with your grandfather in a couple of weeks.”

“You talked to my grandfather? What did he say? Was my grandmother there?”

Looks like Lily was right. She’s hungry for a relationship with those two people. “We only spoke about the internship; we haven’t met as yet.”

“But why didn’t you go through my Dad?”

“My school has a grant that allows us to apply to intern with different companies. Your grandfather’s company was one of them, and he’s the one who handles things there, not your father.”

I only just found that out myself from Lily, but it’s not like it’s some big secret; all she has to do is ask her father, and she’ll see that it is the truth.

“Why Europe?”

“No, you don’t get to ask me that. But I’ll tell you this. I think we need to put some space between us because you obviously have some growing up to do. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“Not really, no.”

“I’m giving you a free pass. While you’re in college, you can be as wild as you want to be, but once we get married, I expect you to stop.” Her eyes lit up at the mention of marriage, and I almost puked. She really does see me as this person she could walk all over. Has it always been like this? Has our friendship always been built on this hill of lies?

“And you won’t see Lily?”

“Who’s Lily? Oh, your sister? Why are you so hung up on her? She’s in a few of my classes but we’re not close or anything. What’s the deal with you two anyway?”

“Nothing, it’s nothing, it’s just that she’s always been jealous of me, is all.”

“Oh, female stuff. I don’t have time to make friends anyway; I’m there to study, remember?’ Had she been anyone else, she’d have seen right through this whole setup, but because she was so sure of herself, she didn’t realize she was being played.

Lily had suggested using her grandfather’s name because she knew how much Lacey wanted a relationship with him and his wife. If I could convince her that I was getting an in with them, which I plan to do after this summer, then I could convince her that I would work on getting them to like her at some point. She’s dumb enough to buy that childish bullshit, and I was pissed that I’d wasted most of my life on a friend like her.

All in all, the meeting went about as I expected it to. I didn’t stay for the weekend like she pleaded with me to though, and walked away feeling lighter because it was the first step to getting her off my back to pursue my relationship with the girl I had fallen in love with.

This was done just to buy myself some time. Knowing her, like I’m coming to, she’d be more focused on all the dick she can get now that I’d given her a pass and be too preoccupied to care about what the hell I was doing.

I didn’t hear anything from her Dad or mine that following week, so I guess it worked. Lily had indeed done her part with her grandparents, and I was set to meet them that weekend. It’s a good thing they barely had a relationship with their son because that meant there was no danger of the two of us running into each other or our lives crossing paths.

Lily had explained that later on, she’d tell her grandparents the truth about how we came to be together, but for now, she was going to introduce me as her college boyfriend. Since I was big into finances and her grandparents were pretty much the same, I hoped to wow them with my knowledge on the subject and use that as a way to break the ice.

GRAYSON

It went even better than I anticipated. I didn’t have to lie or pretend; it seemed, first of all, like they liked me being with their granddaughter. I’d have to thank her later for talking me up the way she had that made them so receptive.

I felt seen, like they saw me the person and not the thing I had started to feel like after dealing with Lacey and her Dad. For the first time I realized why it was that I was so enraged. I didn’t care about Lacey fucking everything that moves; I never loved her in that way.

I think what bothered me is that they were all willing to sacrifice my happiness for hers, like I was just an extra commodity, like part of my Dad’s work compensation or some shit. But Lily’s grandparents were warm and welcoming. I guess since I was the first guy she ever brought home, they knew this was serious, but what solidified things for me was the fact that they seemed to genuinely like the person I am.

We talked about the upcoming summer and the internship. “You’ll have to start at the bottom, young man. Don’t think that because you’ve put stars in my granddaughter’s eyes, and my wife seems to be sweet on you that, you can skate by.”

“Oh, you hush, Simon.” His wife smacked his arm playfully. She’s where Lily and her dad get their dark complexion from. She’s Greek and Italian with that Mediterranean beauty you see in old Hollywood movies. And she’d given it all to her granddaughter.

Except for the eyes, no one has eyes like my girl. So, though her grandmother had green eyes, they didn’t have that brilliant hue that Lily’s did. Still, looking at her gave me a good idea of what Lily would look like at that age, and I’ve got to say, I’m going to have to take very good care of myself if I want to keep up.

Since I didn’t hear anything from Lacey or my Dad, I figured she’d stuck to her end of the bargain. I’m sure she had already moved on to a new conquest to add to her stable of men. Lily had shared what she’d learned about Lacey and what she’d been getting up to since going away to college, and let’s just say, if sucking dick was on the curriculum, she’d graduate with honors.

I wasn’t even sure that she found time to go to any of her classes, and I can’t say that I cared. I had long stopped caring about the friend I once had. To me, she was no better than a stranger that I’d passed for less than two seconds on the street. Someone whose face I wouldn’t even remember.

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