I won't bore you with the specifics of the long string of bad decisions that led me to walking in on my boyfriend in the back room of the Jazz Club we both worked at, balls deep into a waitress that had barely worked there a week.
I'm not going to recap the word-for-word and the blow-for-blow of it, but I will say I was surprised by his reaction. In my mind, an explanation and an apology was in order. Instead, I was blamed for it, put on the defensive and called some pretty hateful things in a tone of voice I had never heard from him before.
So, that was that, because it's not like we hadn't had that conversation before.
The predicament I suddenly found myself in, was that of homelessness. We shared an apartment and most months just slipped by on our combined wages. Affording a place of my own was not any more of an option for me than staying there was. And I certainly could not drop all of this into my mother's lap, she's got enough on her plate already.
So, I made a phone call to my long time friend Julia, and asked her if I could crash at her place for awhile.
The only problem, is Julia and her husband Jeffrey live on the other side of the Country. Erie, Pennsylvania to be exact. Julia works for some kind of corporation that requires her to travel, so she loaned me a flight coupon. I packed my shit, and I was on the next plane.
It's nearly a full day's travel from the land of the Kings to the land of the Otters, but I made it in one piece. And with each mile that passed between us, life before this became more and more of a distant memory.
I will say, there's a certain charm to this place. Erie is home to some of the nicest people I've met. Especially the guy who drives the airport shuttle. He was kind enough to show me around a bit on the way in, pointing out some of the hidden treasures of the city. I'm looking forward to finding time to explore a few of them.
Julia's husband is a lot weirder than I remember him being, but the last time I saw him, was at their wedding. Maybe he was just on his best behavior, or maybe I just didn't notice. Have you ever gotten the feeling that someone is looking over your shoulder? That's what being around Jeffrey is like - all the time. Not necessarily inappropriate, but just... I guess... a little creepy.
Regardless, I felt better after a hot bath. Just to wash off the 'travel dirt' and get into some clean clothes was a notable improvement. I settled into the guest room at Julia's and that's where I'm writing this from now. Julia just stopped by to talk. I have the feeling she was looking for the 'girl talk' version of the last 12 hours. Me spilling my guts with every gory detail, but seriously... there's not much left to talk about.
For too long, I allowed him to treat me like a second class citizen in my own home. This was not the first time assure you. It was just the last time, and when I make my mind up about something... good luck stopping me. I think dwelling on it is only going to eat away at me, and I've already given him too much of my life to devote anymore energy on him.
So, I re-hashed the worst of it for Julia's sake, so we could have our long over due 'bonding moment' and hopefully never have to talk about again. But at the same time, I realized how much I've missed her. We basically grew up together, until she got married and moved away.
Well, I'm going to cut this short, because someone on Plugin is trying to get my attention.
<3 Tasha
