An Education
It had been about a year since Jenny left home for Oxford. Here, finally, she felt happy and confident in herself again; no longer was she worried about the future. It took her awhile to finally rid herself of those negative thoughts and doubts. After what David put her through she was lucky to be in one solid piece. David was now only a distant memory of her once naïve and idealistic self. Instead, Jenny had taken to dating boys her own age and ones that were in her classes. She would shudder when older man would give her that look. Yes, Jenny was ready to start again but David, however, was not. It was the weekend before finals and Jenny, her best friend Clara, and the boy she had recently been seeing, James, all went out to McKinley's pub for the night. About two shots and three beers later, Jenny was beginning to feel nauseous, maybe getting dizzyingly drunk wasn't the best way to de-stress, she thought. Jenny stumbled out of the bar for some fresh air, refusing any assistance from her friends. Outside the warm summer air slapped her in the face making her even redder and sicker than before. Taking deep breathes Jenny leaned against the cool stone wall of the pub. Distantly she saw a shadowy figure walking towards her. Damn, she thought, he was back.
"Hello, Mini, I've missed you" said David with his boyish smile, too boyish for a man of almost forty.
"Leave and never come back" Jenny said to the sky, not looking at David.
"I've left her, it took me awhile to get the divorce papers done and everything settled but I did it, I left her for you; for us."
Feeling even sicker and madder than before, Jenny felt like lunging at David to release all her frustrations on him, hoping her hatred would manifest into dark blue and purple marks on his body. Not again, she thought, he was not about to ruin her life again.
"David, what you did to me was unforgiveable. Your whole 'glamorous' life is a lie, a lie I chose to lead with you because I was stupid and in love."
David looked at her and began to plead with Jenny about how he had stopped his con work and that he was trying to find an honest job. Jenny stopped David as he was pleading his case and looked him sharply in the face.
"I got rid of it you know, I didn't want to at first but there was no other way, so now you know. Please go, I never want to have any contact with you."
Maybe it was the alcohol or maybe it was the fact that Jenny knew her little revelation would drive David away forever. Finally he saw just how drastically he could have changed Jenny's life. She almost became a single teenage mother with no education or future. David looked at Jenny and he was speechless, he no longer had the strength to force out an apology. Instead he did the best thing he could do for Jenny; he left. Jenny felt herself about to cry but she willed away the tears, she had to move on in order to keep herself sane. She needed to forget about David, forget about it.