I had first met Ryan on my first day at my Wisconsin school. He was in my Spanish class, and he had helped me learn the many verbs and how to conjugate them.
"Lugar."
"Lugar."
"Lugo, lugas, luga, lugamos, lugais, lugan."
"What?"
"I clean, you clean, he cleans, we clean, you all clean, they clean."
"Oh."
"What's your number?"
"555-3438."
"I can help you outside of school."
"Okay. If you really want to."
Ryan had a girlfriend then. Her name was Elle, and she was the School Bitch. She was a year older than us, and he called her his Older Woman. He always talked about her when we were studying, and he told me that on the outside she could be mean, but she was nice and generous to him. I had found out firsthand how mean she could be, as she had found out I was studying with Ryan privately. She hated me after that, and never failed to scoff in my direction whenever our paths crossed. I would always tell Ryan about our encounters, and it always seem like he didn't believe me until the day he broke up with her.
"I broke up with Elle today."
"Oh. Why?" I was so surprised; he always seemed so in love with her.
"If she can't be nice to my friends, she doesn't deserve to be my girlfriend."
"Good for you."