Alrighty folks, I need some help. My story's kind of long and boring, so I hope your eyeballs are well rested. :]
I'll start from the beginning.
I met him in the summer of '07. He worked at my local Dairy Queen. A skinny, pimple-faced nerd that I didn't have much interest in speaking to. He talked more with my mom than with me - as I said, not interested - but she brought up that I was looking for a second job. He was happy to bring me the application and told me to list him as a reference. Couldn't hurt, so I did while I ate the free chocolate cone he gave me. We talked a little bit about TV, then I was up and gone.
When I finally got hired there, he'd left for college. I didn't want to see him, so this was good news for me. Of course, come that winter he was back - and was I in for a surprise. Gone were the pimples and the bowl cut and he'd grown in some facial hair. What can I say? He was hot. Like HOT hot. But, not wanting to invoke the wrath of karma, I didn't suddenly start talking to him. I still avoided him.
To be honest, I hated him at first. I hated his attitude, I hated his mannerisms, I hated everything about him. He talked too much, he was annoying... He flat out grated on my nerves.
Somehow, we started talking. Slowly but surely, he managed to grow on me. He'd take me home every night and we'd sit and talk for hours. He'd come pick me up from my other job and we'd go eat somewhere - and he'd always insist on paying. Before I knew it, feelings were growing and hormones were being pesky. And even though I KNEW he liked me - and I would blatantly tell him that I liked him, too - he wouldn't act on it because he knew there was another guy I liked at the time.
Shortly before he left, we went to eat at iHop with my family where he had to spend five hours - yes, ladies and gentlemen, FIVE HOURS - working up the nerve to kiss me. Mom thought it was pathetic; I thought it was adorable, but that's beside the point.
He couldn't figure out whether it "meant" anything or not, so he left for college with us as just friends. And I was fine with that.
A few months later, I caught word from our Dairy Queen boss that a tornado had hit his school. The news was terrifying, but he was alright so all was well.
He ended up coming home so that his parents could replace his things. On the last night he was here, he wanted to take me out to eat but I had to be up early in the morning and declined, though he drove my mom and I to the iHop anyway.
It's just down the street from my house so as I started walking home he called "YOU SUCK!" across the parking lot.
I called back "Well you suck boys!" He then ran at me head on before whirling me around and kissing me. He asked me to be his girlfriend. Of course I said yes. I was thrilled!!! I wouldn't get to see him before next summer, but I didn't care. I couldn't wait to see him again.
Of course, in the meantime, I tried to keep in touch. He didn't have a cellphone at the time, so I got his e-mail from my boss and wrote him a physical letter as well. Months went by. I didn't hear from him. I think it was three months later that I finally got a reply to my e-mail and it was the shortest, crappiest e-mail ever written.
Something along the lines of: "Hi. I have lots of stories to tell when I get back from college. Good to hear from you."
I was livid. I wrote him an angry lengthy response (which he claims to never have received; along with my letter).
When he came back, I tried to pretend he didn't exist. But I had to find out what happened. I could never "date" him again (if you could call it that), regardless of what he said, I promised myself. I stuck to it after we had a heart to heart.
We ended up as friends again and fell back into our same old routine. Staying out all night, talking about everything and nothing. We'd go skinny dipping in empty vacation homes. I'd spend the night at his house and we'd watch marathons of anime (and that was ALL, ha ha, nothing steamy). It was bliss, and I was soon considering him as one of my closest companions. Of course I still had feelings for him, and him for me, but I refused to let myself make that mistake again.
He decided he was joining the NAVY. I asked him if he'd keep in contact or just abandon me again, because if he was planning the same thing we should say goodbye now. He promised he would.
He left without even saying goodbye. I was heartbroken and furious he would do that to me after he hurt me the first time.
He came back in December once basic training was over and he acted like he'd seen me just yesterday; like nothing had changed and no time had passed. I promptly told him where he could shove it, and he drove off. I thought that would be the last of him.
Well, I was wrong. He showed up at my job this past Sunday. I wasn't there as I'd called out sick (talk about fate!!!). He spent a long time there, asking every employee and several strangers what he should do to apologize to me. "Are there flowers I can buy? Is there an 'I'm sorry I was such a jerk' card?" He ended up writing me a two page letter, explaining how sorry he was and how much he thought about me over the past eight months and how he missed being "us". How he meant everything when he asked if I still had any feelings, but that he knew it was too little too late. He told me he would be back in October before he graduated and hoped I could stomach the sight of him. (To be continued...)
Which he told me he regrets.