Page 71 of Cinderella Screwed Me Over
“I can’t do it. I love you, I really do, but we don’t want the same things. I tried to tell myself it’d all be okay, but…” My words came in a high-pitched squeak. “It’s not going to work.”
People around us were staring. A few people started clapping. They thought we were getting engaged; they didn’t realize we were in the middle of breaking up.
That was the day I realized I’d been lied to. Even though I’d found an amazing, mature guy who I loved, who loved me back, it still wasn’t enough. I was crushed. And pissed. And totally heartbroken.
Time Wasted:I refuse to say any of our ten months together were a waste. I learned a lot about myself. I got to experience the most intense love I’d ever had up till then. I also had to get over it, which wasn’t easy. I became bitter and went through a zombie/horror film phase. My favorite part was when everyone died. If someone actually found love in the movie, I booed and threw popcorn at the screen.
Lessons Learned:
My family is really, really important to me.
I want someone with enough free time to spend some with me (a.k.a. no workaholics).
Never date someone who wants six kids.
The hardest lesson: Sometimes love’s just not enough.
…
Stephanie, Anthony, Karl, and I sat down at a table near the bar. I’d called Stephanie, desperate to get out after spending all day working, and we’d met at Shots, the place Anthony had originally meant for us to go. Saturday nights were apparently popular, because it was hard to move. When a group got up to leave, we snatched the table.
“So what happened?” Steph asked.
I knew what she was talking about, but I didn’t want to get into it. The whole point of getting out was to stop thinking abouthim.
She scooted her chair closer to mine. “You know I’m not going to leave you alone until you tell me what happened with Jake.”
I sighed, nice and dramatic so that she got how much I didn’t want to talk about it. “He kept trying to convince me that some relationships are good.”
Steph tilted her head and stared at me. “Oh, Darby. Surely there’s more than that.”
“I called him for no reason but to chat, even though he was in the middle of work. When I had a bad day, I complained about it to him. I had him go to a boring party with me. I was relying on him too much. I could just feel it starting to get messy.”
Karl leaned in, yelling over the music. “What’s going on?”
“Darby dropped a guy because he liked her and she was starting to like him back,” Steph said.
I scowled at her. “Thanks for making it sound as horrible as possible.”
“I guess I should consider myself lucky that you were appalled by me,” Karl said with a smile.
“You better watch it. Getting someone in this place to punch you might be harder than at Hot Shots, but I like a challenge.” Usually I would’ve delivered that line much better, but it came out kind of sad, thanks to the fact that his statement was a little too true. Maybe my exes had a list of what not to look for in a girlfriend with all my qualities listed.
Anthony held his hand out to Stephanie. “You want to dance?”
Stephanie glanced at me.
“I’m fine,” I said, pushing her toward her fiancé. “Go dance.”
Anthony hated to dance, but Steph loved it. I knew Anthony suffered through it because of how happy it made Stephanie.
As soon as they were gone, Karl asked, “You want to talk about your relationship? I know you don’t believe in what I do, but I might just impress you with what I know.”
“I don’t need a therapist to tell me that my views on relationships are screwed up.” I glanced at him. “I hope this doesn’t come across as offensive, because I don’t mean it that way, but don’t you have a hard time convincing your clients you know what you’re talking about when you’re not married?”
Karl’s lips thinned. He took a swig of his drink. “I was married. For six years. My wife had cystic fibrosis. They wanted to do a lung transplant, but they couldn’t find a donor in time. So she passed away. A little more than two years ago.”
“That’s… I’m so sorry. I can’t believe Stephanie didn’t tell me.”
