The Story of Us, Part 3

(I’m having so much fun writing this, and thanks for reading along!  If you need to catch up, part 1 is here and part 2 is here.)

The spring semester of 1996 went by in a blur of letters, phone calls, emails, weekend visits, and anticipation of the summer ahead where we would have 3 months to spend together.  His parents hired him to redo their yard, and I had a job at the local video store.  But we spent every spare moment we could together. Of course, since I was only 16, I had some pretty strict rules and curfews.  Derek wasn’t allowed over if no one was home, he definitely wasn’t allowed in my room, and if I was out with him at night, I had to be home by 10:00.  At the time, it seemed like the most ridiculous, unfair thing ever.  My mom was definitely ruining my life.  Of course, now I can see she loved me, had my best interest at heart, and simply wanted to protect me.   I’m sure that I would be the same way if my 16 year old was not just dating a 19 year old, but was madly in love with him.  Derek was great, and let me cry on his shoulder over the unfairness of it all, but respected all of my mom’s rules.  That’s the kind of man he was, and still is.

The summer came to an end, and I said yet another tearful good-bye.  It was so hard to watch him leave again, even though I knew he had to go back to school.  I was completely, totally, madly in love with him, and by this point, I had started imagining what it would be like (someday, in the very distant future) to be his wife.

Which is why I was absolutely crushed when I received an email just a few weeks later telling me all about the interesting girl he had met at school.  Nothing had happened, the email promised.  She was just interesting and pretty and he was confused.  I was already planning a trip to Abilene that weekend with a friend, and with a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach, I went to visit him.  I hoped that when he saw me, he would forget all about this interesting new girl, but he didn’t.  He broke up with me, breaking my heart into a million pieces.  I felt lost without him, and it only made it hurt worse when he started dating the girl within days of breaking up with me.

The months passed by, and slowly, my heart began to heal.  I had good friends and a very good life, and at some point, I even started to notice other guys.  I began dating someone else just about the time Derek stopped dating the girl.  Suddenly the tables were turned.  He wanted me back, and even though we still talked all the time and I wasn’t ready to give up on us forever, I was having fun dating this other guy.  And I will admit I like watching Derek bristle a bit.  Christmas vacation came and went, and sometime around February, the guy I had been dating broke it off with me.  I think he knew I was completely hung up on my ex-boyfriend, and he was absolutely right.  I was still in love with Derek.