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Don't Be This Guy

The story of how my Ex ruined Broadway for me

By Mae McCreeryPublished 2 years ago 10 min read
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Don't Be This Guy
Photo by Denys Nevozhai on Unsplash

When your in a relationship for a long time, you both make sacrifices for each other's happiness; unfortunately I've yet to find a person to do that for me without bitching.

I was dating this guy for 4 years and we decided to take a trip to New York City, we were originally planning for Tokyo but my grandfather died very suddenly and was in a dark place for awhile. When we agreed to still take a trip, we changed our plans to go to New York instead. He had never been and I had and I knew he'd have a lot of fun. We could only get corresponding time off in July so it was fecking hot but manageable.

When we were going through my grandfathers things, I found out that he had set aside $500 for me to spend on our original trip to Tokyo. He had it in a little envelope with a note that he was apparently planning to hide in my luggage before I left. He told me that I needed to take some time for myself and that he wanted to treat me.

I always insist on paying for myself, to be self sustaining and independent; he was so used to his kids taking money whenever he offered it and I was the only grandchild who didn't want the money. We were very close and his death hit me harder than I let a lot of people know.

I cried for days about the money, happy that he was planning on doing something so sweet for me and sneaky about it, and crying because his loss was and remains a hole in my heart.

So, when we started making plans for New York, I told my Ex about the money and that I wanted to see a Broadway play with good seats. We had enough money for two plays and we agreed together to see Phantom of the Opera and Book of Mormon. Something classic and something new.

On the day we were going to see Phantom of the Opera, we got into a fight on our way to the hotel. He wanted to wander through Times Square and I said that we only had a couple hours before the show opened and that we still had dinner plans and had to shower and change. It was well over 100 degrees and we were both gross sweaty messes. The shops he wanted to see were in the opposite direction of our hotel and would've taken at least an hour to get there and back to the hotel in the crowd and heat. He was so angry he speed walked a full block ahead of me. He got to the hotel first and jumped in the shower before I was even in the elevator.

Whatever. We were having an off day to begin with.

I figured with the heat and the crowds, and the fact that we hadn't eaten in a few hours, once he ate something he'd be different. As usual.

I got to the room, grabbed my outfit and waited for him to get out of the bathroom. I cranked up the A/C so the room would be nice and cool for him when he got out.

He opened the door and sighed and smiled at me.

"We both fucked up. We cool?" He held me and hugged me. I agreed, simply because I didn't want to fight anymore.

"We're good, hun. Can you grab the red folder out of my backpack? The tickets are inside."

I jumped in the shower, I remember the cold water making me feel better almost immediately. I cleaned myself up and dressed and walked out of the bathroom and he was sitting on the bed with the tickets next to him.

He stared at me for a minute and I thought he would comment on how I looked, I wore the same dress from our first Valentines Day date together and I thought he'd remember it.

Nope.

He stood up and started berating me.

"You spent $240 on tickets for this show tonight? Are you kidding me?" He tossed the folder on the desk and groaned. "We could've just watched it on Netflix. I can't believe you spent that much money."

I snapped.

"First of all." I said when he faced me again. "We agreed to this months ago, and you HELPED me pick out the seats and we TALKED about the prices."

His eyes got big for a second, apparently remembering it.

"Second." I walked over and snatched the tickets and put them in my purse. "My GRANDFATHER who DIED last year left me this money to do something nice for myself. Something nice for US."

I was so angry I was starting to cry.

"I forgot, I'm sorry." He whispered and he hugged me again.

I pulled myself together and told him that we should go to dinner. He wanted to go to the Hard Rock Cafe next to the theater and I consented to it.

While in line for the theater to open, he complained about the heat, the wait, he mumbled about watching the movie and when he realized I heard him, he shut up and then just didn't talk to me at all. I looked around and was so jealous, seeing other couples like us, some people weren't too excited and others were practically about to split their faces open from smiling so much, but everyone was happy.

I looked at my Ex and he was staring at his watch counting how many minutes we had been waiting.

I fought back tears, not to avoid a scene but because I had put on eyeliner perfectly and if I cried it would ruin it.

We got inside and he went to the bathroom. I went to the bar.

"Good evening, ma'am." The bartender leaned over and smiled at me. I looked down at his nametag.

"Hello, David. May I have a glass of white wine please?" I sighed and took out my wallet. I looked over at other guys paying for their dates glasses, there weren't many people at this bar the theater had four but it was enough to get me annoyed at my situation all the same, and saw my Ex leaving the bathroom and immediately going to stand by the entrance door to the theater. I sighed, he didn't even want a drink or to talk to me.

"Have you seen the souvenir cups?" I looked up and I saw the bartender look from me to my Ex, he caught me looking at him.

"No."

"Oh well they're all the rage with teachers." He turned around and pulled down a holographic cup with the Phantom logo. "It also comes with a lid." He pulled out a black lid and it had a portion that snapped open and closed, like a sippy cup.

I laughed out loud and he smiled with me.

"That's brilliant!" I said. "I'll take it."

"Fantastic!" He leaned toward me. "You're lucky tonight, you're the first customer I've had tonight so I'm going to give you this cup for free!" He poured a generous amount of wine in the cup and slid it over to me.

"I have a feeling its a pity drink." I said as I looked at it.

"Maybe." He shrugged and leaned across the bar. "But you're far too pretty to be frowning all night. Think of it like you paid with your smile." He winked at me and I smiled again.

"Nuh uh! That only works for ONE drink!" He said quickly.

I laughed loudly again and pulled a $20 out of my purse and dropped it in the tip jar.

"Thank you, David." I smiled again and waved as I left when the doors opened.

My Ex looked a bit remorseful at the door, he held out his elbow and I put my arm through his while we walked to our seats.

The show was wonderful, and the wine wasn't bad either, my Ex was ecstatic about the show afterwards and told me how much he now loved Broadway.

We spent the entire next day filming a video for his Instagram. I had to take video of him dancing up and down Broadway and he would not stop gushing about what a magnificent day it was the day he realized he loved musical theater. He was suddenly anxious for the Book of Mormon and made us get to the theater an hour early.

I hated when we got home and people wouldn't stop talking about that fecking video and how funny it was and begged him to tell the story of watching Phantom of the Opera. He's the talker and I am naturally quiet, and I don't like causing fights. So I never told anyone while we were together about that horrible day where he tried to make me feel guilty about spending money on a play I wanted to see and then immediately act like it never happened.

When we broke up, I met my mother for lunch one day at a diner by our house where we knew everyone. She showed the waitress that Broadway video of him since it popped up in memories.

That's when I told her what really happened that day.

I was still so angry and I still am.

I wanted one thing, I planned that trip around things he wanted since he had never been and I had. I memorized facts about musicians and some of the darker parts of history to tell him while we walked around because we couldn't afford the tour he wanted to go on.

Well, we could, he just didn't want to spend $50 for both of us to do it.

I planned out the food he wanted, the shops he wanted, the places he wanted to see and tour, I did everything he wanted.

I asked for one thing. A Broadway play. I went to Chinatown with him, even though I didn't want to go. We went to the Bull on Wall Street because he wanted to, I didn't. We went out for midnight pizza and halal because he wanted to, I did not.

I smiled and did my best to enjoy the things he wanted, and even if I wasn't having fun it never crossed my mind to be angry about it or to make him feel guilty about what he wanted.

But he ruined the one thing I wanted and acted like he didn't.

After that trip, things were different between us. He didn't want to spend money on anything and did everything as cheap as possible, even though he never had less than $5k in his account at any given time. A fact he liked to brag about, even though he never had to pay for college because his dad was in the military and his dad paid for his car and whatever repairs that car needed and his dad paid his insurance for the car and for medical.

He always had everything handed to him and I had to work myself to the bone to put myself through school and work one part time job and one full time job, both barely paid me enough to keep bills paid.

So, the point of my story is, if someone whines like a little b*tch; dump their ass in the river and go see the damn play by yourself and flirt with the cute bartender.

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About the Creator

Mae McCreery

I’m a 29 year old female that is going through a quarter life crisis. When my dream of Journalism was killed, I thought I was over writing forever. Turns out, I still have a lot to say.

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