Page 78 of Once Bitten, Twice Fried
“OK, except for that. Your taste in movies is terrible.” Julie chuckled, before being serious again. “You can tell me whatever you want. I promise I won’t judge you.”
Yasmine sighed. “I just feel silly. I knew that you didn’t like Adam and I should’ve listened to you. And to the rest of my friends. And my cousins.”
“Wait, what?” Julie tried not to make a face. “I like Adam, he’s-”
“Julie, you’re very bad at lying and that includes lying by omission. I could see your face every time I mentioned Adam. But you were right.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” Yasmine took another breath. She sat back, one arm resting on her leg, the other one fidgeting with the bottom of her wine glass. “The truth is: I haven’t been happy with Adam for a long time. It kills me to admit it and it was torture to realise it on my wedding day.”
Julie nodded, encouraging Yasmine to continue.
“When I first met Adam, it was like a dream come true. He was this talented, sensitive guy with an incredible career and I thought it was all that I wanted. When I talked about him to my friends and family, everybody was starstruck, and so was I. Everything with Adam felt like it was more. People were just living life. Being with Adam felt like experiencing it.” Yasmine took another sip from her glass. “And then… Having to share him with his career became difficult. There was always a meeting, an interview, a collaboration,… you name it. Being the girl backstage and in the front row isn’t all that great when that’s all that his friends see you as. And he never takes time to correct them. Little by little, it’s like your life is being swallowed whole by his greater, more important life. But Adam is still the nice wide-eyed boy that you first met, so you want to make it work.”
Julie had never seen Yasmine so bare and vulnerable. If only she’d known all of this. If only she’d asked Yasmine how her relationship was going when she’d had the chance. The truth is, she could see that Yasmine wasn’t happy with Adam but shedidn’t want to acknowledge it. It would’ve meant that Yasmine wasn’t doing well and it was a terrifying thought for Julie.
“So I tried very hard to make it work,” Yasmine continued quietly. “When he proposed to me, I thought he was ready to spend more time with me, but it wasn’t true. At the same time, I didn’t want to admit that I was unhappy because I thought that it meant that I hadn’t tried hard enough. I was scared of losing him, in part because I loved him but in part because I was just… used to him. The weeks before the wedding, my brain was screaming at me to call it off but I didn’t want to listen to it. I thought it was wedding stress.”
“Then on the wedding day…”
Yasmine smiled. “On the wedding day, I couldn’t pretend it was okay any more. So I ran away.”
Julie nodded again. “I just want to point out that that’s a very Yasmine reaction. Saying ‘fuck it’ to everything and getting out of there.”
“I know, right?” Yasmine laughed.
“And… Who’s this other guy?”
“This is the part where you’re going to judge me. If you’re not judging me already.”
“I’m judging you for saying that again.”
“As I mentioned to you, David used to work with me.” Yasmine stopped for a moment. “It was before I met Adam. We had a thing for a few months but he had to move away for work. I always had fond memories of him but you know, you don’t really give it that much thought when it happens. You’re not going to think of every breakup as ‘the one who got away’ but David was exactly that.”
Julie was puzzled. “So you saw him again and it was love at second-sight?”
“Not really. This isn’t a movie.”
“I don’t watch movies where that happens, but again, your movie tastes are questionable.”
“Shh. Do you want to know the rest of the story or not?” Yasmine jokingly scowled. “Anyway, the night before the wedding, I couldn’t sleep and I texted him after reconnecting earlier. He was still up and we decided to both get into our cars and meet up halfway. We parked on a country road next to a field and talked about nothing and everything.” Yasmine had a faraway look in her eyes. “I told him what I just told you about Adam and he told me that it was up to me but if I wanted to run away at the altar, he’d be there. I went back to the house and mulled it over all night. I still didn’t know if I would go through with it. Then at the last second, I did.”
“So are you guys dating?”
“God no! I just got out of a relationship, Julie. I don’t know what’s gonna happen but for now we’re happy being in each other’s lives. He’s thinking about moving back here.”
“Fair enough, if I had to deal with Parisians on a regular basis, I’d also be desperate.” Julie thought for a second. “You never mentioned that you dated him.”
“No, it was doomed from the start. We both knew he was going to move away. I didn’t tell you at the time because even for me it didn’t even register as a huge event in my life.”
Julie sat back in her chair, staring up at her ceiling. She let out a long breath. “What a story!” She understood Yasmine’s worries about being judged but she failed to see how she could’ve done that. Sometimes life was just messy and as long as Yasmine was taking care of herself, Julie was happy. “How have you been doing? How’s Adam?”
“Let’s say I’m fine. I told Adam I was sorry but he needs some time. It’s alright, I’ll deal with it.” Yasmine’s face got sombre.
“But I’m sure he’ll release one hell of a breakup album when he’s over it.”
Yasmine cracked up. “The fans can thank me.”
