Unfaithful

You always create scenarios in your head of the time you are going to meet "the one". He spots you from across the bar and walk towards you to give you quite the introduction. He fails at telling you some lame pickup line that he heard from another friend. You smile in response. You couldn't help but notice how cute he looked trying to hit you up. You relieve the tension between the two of you by starting up a conversation. Soon enough, a couple hours have gone by and you are still conversing with him.

Flash forward to a month later. You've been seeing each other almost every single day now; each date getting better than the last. He introduced you to his puppy. You introduced him to your cat. The two of you joked about how two people so opposite had fallen in love with each other. The tension comes back. Fallen in love? That was the first time you both have ever admitted to that feeling. He stares at you. You stare back. He picks up your hand and kisses you on the cheek. "I love you," He smiles. You can't help but blush in response, "I love you too."

Six months go by. You are getting ready to introduce him to your parents. You had just met his the week before and he offered to meet yours. You were so nervous. What if they didn't get along with him? What if you just spent the last six months falling for a guy that your parents will just end up hating? He comes to your door. He was all dressed in an off-white dress shirt and a pleaded black pant. He had gotten his hair all fluffed up into a quiff.. just the way you always loved it. His facial features were looking sharp and baby-faced, as he had shaved off all of his facial hair prior to the night. He held out a bouquet of flowers for you, reassuring you on how parents always love him when they meet. Taking your arm, he led you out to his car. You felt safe. You felt comforted. You felt at home.

Nine months later. The two of you were moving into an apartment together that overlooked the city. His puppy and your cat had became the best of friends by now. You were sorting through the items in the boxes, trying to figure out where each item would look the best. You couldn't decide on which aesthetic you wanted the new place to have. He was putting the furniture all in place - just the way you asked him. He constantly kept cracking up jokes to keep you from getting bored as the two of you worked on making the new place look as if people actually lived in it.

One year later. The two of you are constantly fighting. He's sleeping in the living room on the sofa bed every night. You would lay in the king-sized bed, that he insisted the two of you absolutely needed, and think back to the early days. The meet and greet. The first couple months. The not being able to be away from each other. You missed it. Now there he was, in a whole other room, just to be away from you. You felt single again. You felt alone.

Two months after that, you noticed he had stopped doing all the spontaneous surprises he used to do when you both started dating. He had started to become more overprotective of his phone. He started to push you away. You were beginning to feel more like his mother than his girlfriend.

A couple weeks later, he hit you. It was a small slap. He just hit your shoulder. But you still couldn't believe it. The last thing you asked him was what he had been hiding on his phone that he didn't want you to see. It was a joke. You were just making a joke. The way he used to with you when you started dating. You swore to him that you were done. You were leaving. For good.

A month came around and you were still there. Your body was starting to look like a canvas for bruises by now. You had no idea why, but he just seemed as if he had been getting angrier and angrier with you. Today, you noticed the secrets he's been hiding from you on his phone. It was another girl. She had sent him a nude photo to "prepare him for what was to come that night". It hurt. When you asked him about it, he didn't say anything. He just picked up the iron you had cooling down on the kitchen counter up and threw it at your chest. He claimed that he couldn't keep nothing from you. He went on and on about how you were draining every ounce of manhood he had left with all the prying you were doing. He pulled you towards him by the arm and yelled at you about how he had his own private life and you had yours. He ended the debate by throwing you into the wall and storming out the door.

You never told your mother about that incident until two weeks after. She came over immediately and started to pack up your stuff. You tried to stop her but she insisted that you were to come home that second. She explained how she wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing you would be under his roof, but you kept telling her how he wasn't usually like that. You would lie and tell her that it was the first time. You just kept saying that it was your fault. You told her how you did go through his private belongings, and that you did read his private text messages. But she wasn't having it. She packed up all your belongings into her car and told you to get in. The last thing you ever remember of that apartment was saying goodbye to his dog before taking your cat and walking towards your mother's car.

Now it was a year later, and you were standing in the same bar as the last time. He spots you from across the room and begins to walk towards you.