As I sat in silence waiting for Jack to leave the apartment, a million things raced through my mind. How can he not love me? How can he leave now? Does he not remember that we’ve just gone into contract to purchase an apartment together? Is this all a dream?
It’s amazing how many memories can go through one's head in the space of a nanosecond. Birthdays, anniversaries and vacations all flooded back as the dams of my mind crumbled quicker than the levees that failed to protect New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. I only began to cry when I remembered the moment I first laid eyes on Jack.
Jack and I met six summers ago. As tacky as it sounds, we met in an online chat room. After a series of fun conversations, we decided to meet in person. As friends. Scheduling the outing was a task unto itself. I was due to meet my oldest and most judgmental friend Jasper (more about him later) for a fun two-week holiday in London. As luck would have it, Jack was due to vacation in Greece the week after my return. Who was it who said, “It’s all in the timing?”
We went to the movies on the first Thursday after we’d both returned from Europe. Jack, still in college at the time, was on summer break. Car-less and living at home (Jasper had a field day with that!) I picked him up at his mother’s home in Melrose Park. Jack was standing out in front when I pulled up. My jaw dropped. Never had I met a more poorly dressed person in my life. Bad jeans. A t-shirt boasting an inappropriate phrase. He looked like an official diplomat from the Grand Duchy of Wal-Martia. “Oh my god,” I thought “What have I gotten myself into?”
People of Walmart: Shop and Awe [Paperback]
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