STORY: Revisiting the Summer of 2016 (Unaddressed Romantic Upheaval)
Remember that final chapter I wrote about L? It seemed a bit rushed, don’t you think? I guess it was just my way of not wanting to deal with it. But, really, what else is new?
Due to my inactivity on this blog, I don’t remember if I wrote about L after that “final chapter”.
Flashback time. June 2016, to be exact.
I was on a bus on my way to work just right after I had gotten back from a trip to Berlin…. With another Jack (But that’s another story.). It had been three months since L ghosted me and once you experience heartbreak after heartbreak, fuck up after fuck up, you tend to look back on your life and think about where you went wrong.
That bus ride was one of those moments. I had gone on a trip with the other Jack in an attempt to forget why I was hurting. But because it didn’t heal from the pain- shocker- I just couldn’t take my mind off L.
I fiddle with my phone and scroll over his name.
The digital age just makes everything less romantic, I swear.
Should I text him?
Yup. Who has time to listen to their brain.
I type out a whole paragraph on Whatsapp, pouring my heart out and saying it was unfair of him to leave my hanging like that.
Dignity has most definitely left the building.
I send it and set my phone down because, let’s be real, if he ignored you before, he can most certainly ignore you now.
My screen lights up,
Oh, what’s that? A notification?
I tremble, but I open it. To my utter shock, he responds.
… with yet again a lengthy, seemingly heartfelt message about how he was wrong, yada yada, charming as usual, has a way with words yada yada. Classic L.
I ring him.
He hangs up.
What the actual fuck?
He says something along the lines of “Give me a minute. I want to do this properly.”.
I anxiously wait.
The phone rings.
Hello?
My memory fails me because this was a long time ago and I’m finding it hard to remember the exact words we said. All I can recall is that I was overwhelmed with emotion- alternating between sadness and anger, sometimes relief and joy or all of those at the same time.
He told me he had met someone but things didn’t turn out the way he would’ve wanted. He said that he was told he was just a blip in that other person’s life.
Serves him right, I thought.
I was furious. Excuse me? I’m sad about you and you’re busy being sad about someone else? And you actually have the audacity to tell me about it? The nerve.
I asked him why he disappeared so suddenly. He said he was going through some troubles, and that he thought leaving wouldn’t be a big deal.
I was flabbergasted. How could you think that? Exchange sweet nothings and talk about your hopes and dreams for months on end and think that it wouldn’t hurt if you just left at the drop of a hat? Man, you’re thick.
What do you want to do, I asked him.
I want to keep talking to you.
I melted.
I guess things really do work out when you’re meant to be.
Or so I thought.
X
Alice










