Chapter One: Broken Promises

They were at it again. I could hear boyfriend number one, Sam, arguing with his boyfriend about which dish soap really cleaned the dishes better. Apparently, boyfriend number two, whose name is Jake, bought the cheap dish soap. Again.

Every time Jake bought the cheap dish soap, the boyfriends would get into this argument. And it always occurred between three and four in the morning - because obviously that's the best time to argue.

These two have lived in the apartment above mine since before I moved in last September. They were the most volatile couple ever. One day they're madly in love, and the next they are slinging insults at each other and ready to throw in towel.

It amazes me.

It amazes me what people put up with, what they are willing to do for the people they love.

Take my parents for example.

They met when they were sixteen and still in high school. They apparently fell madly in love and when they graduated, they took vows and promised to love each other through good times and bad. They got married. I'm sure if they would have waited a bit longer upon graduation, waited to grow up a bit more, they would have seen their differences and would have eventually gone their separate ways, but instead, they married.

They bought a little two story fixer upper and thought things were perfect.

They weren't.

My mom didn't realize how annoyed she'd grow with my father's inability to pick up his socks from all over the floor. She didn't realize how lonely she'd grow cleaning the house and doing errands all day while my father was out working. She didn't realize how trapped she'd start to feel, how resentful she'd grow to feel of my father for tying her down to such a small, boring town.

My father, for his part, was probably ignorant to the changes going on inside my mother. He was probably blissfully unaware and wrapped up in what he thought was a perfect marriage.

I suppose my mother thought that having a child would solve things, give her something to care for, to love, while my father was away. Instead, it only caused her further resentment, though this time for the tiny baby that kept her awake every night.

It shouldn't have been a surprise to my father when she took off and left me with him for some random guy she met, but I think more than anything, he was just so hurt. And totally unable to process how my mother could not only just up and leave him in the middle of the night, but could also leave a newborn baby as well.

The saddest part is that for years and years after, my dad would call her, write to her and would be devastated when he heard nothing back from her. And I know he would have taken her back. He would have forgiven her for leaving and pretended like nothing ever happened. I think it was some time when I was in middle school that he eventually realized that she was never coming back.

I'm sure it undoubtedly hurt my father, but he picked up and just kept going, trying his best to raise a growing daughter all by himself.

And that was why I'd sworn off love. Sure, I would go on dates and I definitely had sex, but I was absolutely not going to fall into the trap of love. I'd seen my parents and learned from their mistakes. They were mistakes I was intent on not repeating.

Sighing, I rolled over in bed and tried to tune out the arguments of Sam and Jake. Glancing at my clock and seeing the numbers painfully glaring at me, reminding me I had to wake up in three hours, was brutal. Shoving my headphones in my ears, I turned up the music in hopes that it would drown out my neighbors and I would eventually get some sleep.


Whew. One down.

Welcome aboard!

This story is my first and is a work in progress, so please keep that in mind when reading. I welcome all comments (as long as they are not with malicious intent) and would love to hear what you think!

Thanks for coming along on this ride with me!