Never let it be said that I ignore Twitter’s trending topics, even if some of them take more than 140 characters to fully explain. But #10yearsago (as the kids say), I was waking up in Old London Town with my best friends, having made sure that the world didn’t end when the calendar clicked from 1999 to 2000 - Not that I really thought it would, but really, who could tell? - and more than a little freaked out by something I’d seen the night before.
For about a year before this, you see, I’d been having a bad break-up with an ex-girlfriend. The actual break-up had gone reasonably well, as these things go (Although there was one embarrassing moment of me running through the streets to her, at one point, for one last kiss. It was like something out of a very bad movie, but that was before I really knew about selfconsciousness like I do now), but what neither of us could’ve predicted were the following months of fallout that saw us repeatingly hook up in secret, despite the appearance of other potential partners and loves in our life. Somehow, we’d always fall into bed together, until the affection we had for each other was almost entirely used up, and then, past that point, we’d still end up together. I can’t even say “things got bad,” because they already were bad, but they definitely got worse, and by the time 2000 rolled around, this woman had become someone I was actively avoiding and kind of scared of, just because of what would happen if we’d met.
So there I was, with friends preparing to see the start of the year 2000, watching New Year celebrations from around the world on TV, and suddenly the announcer mentioned the name of my ex-girlfriend’s hometown and there she was on the television. It seemed like something out of a horror movie, a “You’ll never escape me, ever” threat without words. Some kind of sign that nothing was going to change. My friends quickly changed the subject and the channel, but it stayed with me for the rest of the night, and when I woke up the next morning, stayed with me even then, too.
Luckily, it wasn’t true. Things changed, and we saw each other again only a handful of times, none of them involving one or both of us naked. The last time, in fact, I was with a group of friends that included another ex - one whom I’d fallen out with and then come to realize that she was a best friend I didn’t know I’d had - and, as she saw the ex I was addicted to come into view, this other ex turned to me and, giving me a look that read If you ever sleep with her again, I will cut important body parts off, said “If you want me to beat her up, I will. I’ve wanted to since she broke your heart the first time.”
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Content © Graeme McMillan, 2008-2009.
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