This Isn’t Short or Sweet

I met Steven when I was barely a teenager. We both went to this, I guess, “club”. It was a gathering of “nerds” and “gamers” to just, well, game. Halo tournaments, Pokemon, MTG and Yu-Gi-Oh! duels and generally just goofing off. Him and I were both soft-spoken individuals. I was a longtime member of this “club”, so far as to being the official DM for the group’s DnD campaigns. Whereas, he was kind of new. Everything started with a dispute: Star Wars vs. Star Trek. I was pro Star Trek. I honestly don’t see how the two subjects can even be rival, considering their differences. But, it was a dispute nonetheless. It started with me talking with fellow attendees about Star Trek: TNG. After a few minutes, we all hear a mumble from the corner. It was Steven. He said, “Star Wars is better”. That led to a dispute between all members. It was an all-out riot. Eventually, after sitting back and watching it unfold, I see Steven in the corner, crying. I immediately made the “club” cease it’s chaos and took Steven outside. I tried talking to him but, he kept looking down at his feet. This went on for half an hour. I then saw the only way to get him to talk. “Star Wars sucks.” I’m personally a fan of Star Wars but, I knew it was the only way to get him to talk. And, it did. Oh, it did.

He screamed at me. “STAR TREK SUCKS.” That initiated a very long and unnecessary back and forth. “STAR WARS SUCKS”, “STAR TREK SUCKS”, “STAR WARS SUCKS”. After another half hour, reasons finally came out. “STAR WARS HAS LIKE 8 BILLION MOVIES”, “YEA, WELL STAR TREK HAS LIKE 888,888 BILLION EPISODES”. It ended with him walking away with his hands in the air, saying “whatever,” over and over again.

There’s something to be known about Steven: He’s shy. He didn’t talk to a girl once prior to our first dispute, excluding his mother. He didn’t have any friends. His big brother, Scotty, brought him to the “club”. He had terrifying social anxiety. But he was the sweetest, smartest boy I had ever known.

Over the course of the next two years, almost every night ended with this dispute and one of us walking away and going home, therefore ending the “club” for the night. On one night, it was the usual, Kirk vs. Obi-Won, Data vs. Yoda, etc. Then, we stop. I don’t know what provoked us to stop but, we did. And we just stared at each other. Something possessed us to stop arguing and it shed light on our emotions. We were arguing in the same manner that boys in kindergarten bully girls that they like. And, at that exact moment in time, we realized that we were idiots. And, just as I saw a smirk slide across his face, he kissed me. When I opened my eyes, I saw him running away as fast as his dorky legs could take him.

He stopped coming to “club”. His brother, Scotty, avoided me and eventually stopped going, too. It was a giant jerk on my emotional structure. I found out where he lived and confronted him. All I got out was, “Y’know this is really awkward and confusing for me so just tell me if this was a mistake so I -” before he unleashed a 20 minute explanation and declaration of his love for me that accumulated over the years. Honestly, I was shocked. But, then I wasn’t. I liked him, too. I liked him ever since the first thing he ever said to me, “Star Wars is better.” But, I was taken by a self-involved Electronic genre musician, we’ll call him DJ Boy.

Steven and I became really great friends, best friends. We spent every waking moment together. And when we weren’t together, we were on XBL, video chatting and talking while we were in bed, about to sleep, or chatting while playing Halo 3 or L4D. I made music (Electronic – Hardstyle) at the time and sometimes I’d get DJing gigs and he’s always tag along; DJ Boy was too busy with his own music.

After a while, Steven introduced me to his family as his best friend. His father was an independent movie director/producer/actor/SFX/Etc. His mum was a doctor. Because of this, Steven was rich. He didn’t need a job and got like $1,000 a week for allowance (He put it in a college fund for himself, an emergency fund and had a little bit left to buy stuff). I came from a poor family and had gotten a job at seven working for a friend and had been working ever since. So, naturally, this was a wtf moment. He bought me stuff that I had always wanted and paid my medical bills (I’ve been very sick most of my life and had been diagnosed with lung cancer at the time). Keep in mind, I NEVER asked him to do any of these things. He just did them. He had too much money and already everything he wanted.

DJ Boy found out and freaked out on me. Saying that I was cheating on him and using Steven. I actually laughed at this. He left me. I didn’t much care. Steven and I had been best friends for a few years by now. After a few more months, he took me to this hugely expensive diner. I got lobster, he got steak. When it came to the table, they were both TINY despite their price. We laughed. After dessert, which was amazing, he gets up, pulls out a tiny black box from his pocket and gets on one knee and says, “(First Name Last Name), will you be my girlfriend?” and starts laughing his ass off. I start laughing, too, but then we notice that everyone is looking. So, I smirk at him and start fake crying and say, “Oh, yes, Steven! Nothing would make me happier!” And we kiss. Everyone applauds and we’re giggling to ourselves.

The next 3 years were amazing. They were exactly like when we were best friends. Why? Because we were best friends. And we were going to spend the rest of our lives together. Exactly the way a relationship should be: Best friends who want to be together forever. He gave me a pre-engagement ring. He said, “Take this as an engagement ring, but not so that you can complain that we haven’t gotten married yet. I’ll give you a real engagement ring on your 18th birthday, and we’ll get married right away. So start planning, faggot,” and kissed me. And I did. We did. His parents helped us plan the entire thing. We were ready.

A girl – a foul, slutty girl – had been flirting with Steven’s father on the set of a movie he had casted her in. He wanted nothing to do with her and fired her because of how raunchy it was getting. She started stalking him and he called the police on her many times. One day, this awful, f*cked up bitch confronts Steven’s mother at work. She says that she’s pregnant with his child and that he’s been ignoring her because of it (lie). His mother then proceeds to talk to me about it and I say that the girl is a liar and to just ignore her. But, instead, she confronts him about it when he picks her up from work the next day. He denies it but she doesn’t believe him. He calls me and yells at me for giving her advice, even though I said NOT to do what she just did. Five seconds later, the phone cuts out. He ran into a pole going 70 MPH. They both die instantly.

Steven is left alone with his only remaining family member: His older brother, Scotty. They’re the only ones left. Their parents were only children and their grandparents died a long time ago. I moved in with them, cleaned their house, made them food, kept them company, etc. Steven cried nonstop for months. He wouldn’t watch TV, play video games, go outside – Nothing. It took weeks for me to get him to eat anything. I was upset about losing the closest thing to parents I had ever known, too. But, I had to take care of them. After almost a year, Steven enrolled into the Navy as a medic. I told him not to. He was only doing it to distract himself from his parents’ deaths and wanting to kill the actress who did this. I won’t reveal her name as I don’t want to be held responsible for one of you guys finding her a killing her yourselves for her actions. Anyway, he was in the Navy. He got deployed. He ignored Scotty and me. He ignored everyone. I don’t hear from him until…

A year later, I’m talking to one of my friends and he asks me something about a graphic novel, The Watchmen (I <3 me some Watchmen). I go over to my bookcase and pick it up to show him. I open it up and find a letter. It’s from Steven.

“Dear (First Name),

I apologize for my handwritting, I’m on a bus. I’m going to war. I also apologize for the colour of my pen, purple was all they had left. But, that’s okay, you like purple. I just hope this doesn’t ruin the colour for you.

You must hate me for leaving you alone like this and I understand this. It’s justified. But, I had to leave. I can’t do it anymore. Life. It’s so sad and dark now. My parents were everything to me. I can’t live my life knowing they won’t be there for me, for us. They won’t be at our wedding. They won’t be there when we have our first child. They’ll never be anywhere ever again.

This seems unreasonable, yea. And, I’m sorry. But you know that this isn’t just about them. You cheated on me. He told me everything. When I was most vulnerable, you cheated on me. I have nobody now. And it’s all your fault.

Goodbye.”

After I read this, I called Scotty and asked what the hell this was about. He tells me that, last year, he got that letter inside a letter to him from Steven telling him to put that letter in my Watchmen book. He never read it. He goes on to tell me that a week after he snuck the letter in my room, he got a knock on the door. He was told that Steven had died.

I told him that the letter implied suicide.

He got himself killed.

Let’s go to what the letter said: He thought I cheated on him. With who? DJ Boy. Why? Hah…

DJ Boy contacted him a month before he decided to join the Navy. He said that I was sleeping with him and that he felt bad keeping this a secret.

I never once slept with DJ Boy, even when we dated. It was all a lie to make Steven break up with me so I’d come back to him.

He made Steven enroll. He made Steven kill himself. And he made Steven’s last thought be hatred for me.

That’s my breakup story.

I also turn 18 in 4 months.

2 Stories, 1 Girl

The first happened back in 2005…there was this really cute assistant pastor at my church, J. Well, I told him I liked him but I didn’t want to know how he felt. (I’m a bigger girl and I’ve always felt no one would like me and I didn’t want to take the rejection.) But my friend ,Meg, wanted to know how he felt so she emailed him. She told me what it said. Basically because he worked at the church he thought it would be inappropriate to get involved with anyone there. Fast forward to Christmas of 2005, (only 6 months after my confession) he’s dating another girl from church. Shortly into 2006, the regular pastor and a deacon confront me about something I said to my cousin about him lying. (The not dating someone at the church thing.) It was none of their business and yes, I’m sorry but he did lie, no matter what they said. It was humiliating. Like I hadn’t been hurt enough. March of 2006 J got engaged to that other girl. I was friends with her so of course I acted happy for her. I got an invite to their wedding, I didn’t go, for obvious reasons.

Story 2: May of 2009 I was dating a guy long distance, we broke up. About a week later, my brother’s friend DJ tells me he likes me. And let me tell you, he is not my type, in any way shape or form. However, I was in a vulnerable state. So I agree to go out with him. Our first date, McDonald’s, he bought me a happy meal. After that, I paid for everything. I’m not proud of this, but, he was a registered sex offender. He told me what happened and it sounded like a big misunderstanding. But because he had been in jail and had that stigma he lived with his parents and had no job. But he treated me like I was special, so even though my brain (and heart) told me to dump him and that he wasn’t worth it, I stayed. I felt like I wasn’t worth enough to do any better. A month goes by, he has a possible job at a bowling alley. I said if he had the job, I might have sex with him. (I was 23 and a virgin.) The weekend of the 4th of July, his parents are out of town, we have his house to ourselves. We still aren’t sure if he has the job. We get to the point of almost doing it, I say no. He does it anyway. After that we do it a few more times, only because I thought if I didn’t he would dump me. I was miserable. Then I get the flu and I’m sick for a week and can’t see him. I find out from my brother that he has been on an online site talking to another girl, cheating on me. I found notes to her about him calling her baby and talking about getting together for real. He dumps me. And then I confront him about the girl. He said nothing happened even though I had proof in the form of the posted notes on her profile.I asked him why he needed a girl online when I was real and right in front of him. He said he wanted to go online and I never would. I honestly didn’t see the point, I’d rather have a real person than a fake 2D one. So basically he raped me then dumped me when he got tired of me. I think he lied about what happened with that girl too. Just because in the time I was with him, he lied about a lot. My brother’s ex girlfriend started to date him. I may not have been her biggest fan but I had to tell her what kind of person he was. He denied it all, oh and he left out the part that he was a registered sex offender. So yes, BIG FAT LIAR.

Now I’ve been with my new boyfriend for 9 months and I’m very happy. I hope no one finds DJ. He should have been castrated years ago.

All’s Well That Ends Weirdly

When I was 17, just after graduation, I started dating a guy named ‘A’. I had typically dated guys who were, well, assholes. A was different, I thought. He was a bit of a redneck, but he was sweet to me, and obviously the other guys I had been dating weren’t working out, so I decided to give it a chance. I would drive 30 minutes to see A after work, and we’d go fishing, bowling, and do outdoorsy type things. His family liked me, my family liked him, it was nice. The only strange thing was, he didn’t want to have sex. Now we dated for about 7 months, and he would take me home from his house (30 or so minutes away). On late nights, he would pull over on the side of the road, and I would think, ‘Sweet, we’re gonna mess around!’. No we were not. A would get out of the car, and proceed to walk around looking for deer. I don’t know if he just wasn’t attracted to me or what, but it turned out okay since I wasn’t terribly turned on by him. One evening we go to the local bowling alley, which has a bar in it. His dad’s ex-wife is there with some friends and we end up bowling with them. It was a pretty fun night, there was live music, and lots of drunk folks to watch. Well, at some point I head to the bathroom, and on my way back to our lane, I run into T, a friend of my family’s who I just found out had gotten engaged. I stopped and said hello, congratulated him and the like. When I get back to our lane, A’s ex-step-mother hands me the cell phone I gave A for Christmas. He’s gone. I immediately get upset, and call his house. When I get in touch with him, I ask him what was going on, and he tells me ‘I talk to too many guys, and he couldn’t handle it’. I was pretty upset over it, but in a way, it worked out for both of us, I don’t think we were compatible. Now I’m married, and he is engaged to a girl that makes him really happy. So all’s wells that ends…weirdly, I guess.

First Cut is the Deepest

When I was 15 I started dating Matt. I thought he was cute, sweet and funny. He got along great with all of my friends, except for my sister, who I am really close with. 3 months in, we decided to lose our virginities to each other. For some reason, I didn’t question this. I thought I was a big girl.
At 10 months, we are fighting all of the time. He was constantly lying about not being able to hang out with me, so that he could hang out with MY friends.

He dumped me two weeks after we had a pregnancy scare, and a week after I recovered from Swine Flu. While I was in bed with the Swine, I missed Halloween. I had been looking forward to it the whole week I was out because I was watching literally all of the tv specials while I was sick. It turns out that he had plans with some other girl for Halloween, before he knew I couldnt go out. He had planned to hangout with me during the day, shopping for his sister’s costume (the day of Halloween!) and then drop me off at home at 6. He was going to a girl’s house to hang out with her and she had specifically not invited me. I cried all of Halloween, pathetically watching scary movies in my costume.

The best part is that he dumped me AT SCHOOL. I cried the whole bus ride home. I am the ugliest crier ever. I get a red, swollen, blotchy face, so this was a big deal. The jerk couldn’t waste 5 more minutes being my boyfriend to dump me privately. A week later, I find out that he cheated on me.
GOOD RIDDANCE. I have since ditched all of the friends that took his side and hung out with him behind my back. I have been dating an amazing guy who would never even think of cheating on me. My ex has since started popping pills.

Dumped For a Teenager

When me and my ex were about 27 and I had just found out I was pregnant with our second child, I started noticing he’d go out with friends for a drive and wasn’t returning home till 5 in the morning. Anyways, he’d pass it off as lost track of time with the mates, so anyways after going through the pregnacy pretty much alone, our daughter was about 6 months old he was in the shower and his phone recieved a msg, I glanced at the screan and something like “our baby bump” so picked up the phone and read the msg “hey baby, looked in the mirror today and noticed our baby bump getting bigger, so when are you goin to leave tha dog and be with me?” Oh yeah, I was f***ing furious stormed in on him screaming at him, he insisted it was just a wrong number, anyways after digging into it more, I found out he was cheating on me with this 16 yr old pregnant girl, both were hooked on cocaine (I didn’t know about that before hand) and that he’d used my hospital appointments during pregnancy as an opportunity to be with her, he had left me half way during labour to be with her (btw our daughter almost died during birth) 4 yrs later and they have 3 kids together, major drug addictions and live together and i get daily threats from her, because you know, i almost destroyd their relationship and she’s soooooo depressed and traumatized because of it, even though I keep my distance and just continue to ignore them, oh yeah the reason he cheated on me is because mommy wanted to see her little baby be a stud, now she can be so proud of him.

Liar, Liar, Want to Set You On Fire

Dated this guy for 2 months, thought he was few years older than me cause he said he was and is super tall. Told me he had problems with his ex and that his mother wants him to get back with her. Turns out every last word was a lie, he was acctually 2 years younger than me, and his ex girl had never contacted him since their break up. And he pulled ‘Im going to commit suicide because of you’ stunt I caught him on that lie too because he said he has a knife goodbye, four hours later he texted me back but I didn’t answer. The following day I got another text saying its from his older brother he just wanted to let everyone know his younger brother died last night after attempting a second suicide. I busted him big time on that saying ‘It’s sad that the hospital didnt follow procedure by holding a SUICIDE ATTEMPT for 24 hrs like they are supposed to’
And he was like ‘F*ck how did you know?’
‘B I T CH I read’