Ended Another Friendship Part One

I ended a friendship because of his wife. This is part one of that story. It's a very, very, long story. Here it goes:

At the beginning of 2020 I moved to California to start over. I was stuck in a rut in my hometown. I just needed some place new. Some place where no one knew me. I just needed to see if I could make it on my own. So my best friend at the time, let's call him Andy, invited me to stay with him and his wife. Let's call her Hollie.

I took a train from Virginia to California. With a stop in Missouri to see my cousin and her family. After my visit I was back on a train for about two more days. It was awesome. Seeing the landscapes of the Southwest, it was so beautiful. I wanted to stay on that train. Part of me wanted to turn back, something wasn't right.

But I ignored that voice in my head and I buried it deep down. I should have listened to that voice. I found a job within a month. I was put right into the thick of work. Started out with close to sixty hours a week. Andy got me a phone and was put on his plan. Then, the pandemic hit.

I was furloughed for about a month. During that month I couldn't stand Hollie. All she cared about was having a baby. I asked a few months before if she wanted to get back to work. She said she was taking a mental break. Okay, I understand, but that should have been a HUGE red flag. She told me I wasn't capable of living on my own.

I was capable, I was just working sixty hour weeks. Mostly night shifts, and I would pick up shifts because I was paying five hundred sixty dollars twice a month for a room. PLUS buying one hundred fifty dollars worth of groceries for the house. Also, helping taking care of their four dogs. Yes, FOUR dogs. I went back to work after that month of not being able to work. I was so happy.

I never thought I would be happy to work again. Hollie let me borrow her car just to go to and from work. I paid for gas, and oil changes. I kept up with my bills and I started to look for place to live. Without them knowing. I had to get out of that house. For the first time in my life I was taking sleeping pills. I never took sleeping pills in my life.

All Hollie would do is sit on the couch watch TV, go out back with the dogs, and smoke some weed. All day every day. She would complain if she had to clean up the house. I did what I could. But I was at work until late hours in the night/early hours in the morning. Then, I had to eat and go to bed. Wake up and do it all over again.

I would come home to a disaster of a kitchen. At least a week's worth of dishes not done. I was going to bed at four in the morning because of that. Until Andy got up and asked what I was doing. I told him the kitchen hasn't been done in a week. That's when he tells me he was going to talk to Hollie because it wasn't fair to me. Since I didn't eat at home anymore.

I would get a shift meal from work. My one day off I would run errands and stay in my room just to get away from them. Hollie was just making things worse for me. She was always depressed and really, really, really, really depended on Andy. Which the way she did was borderline toxic. Also, Hollie is Andy's third wife. So there's that. Andy and I go way back.

We met in Virginia while he was married to his second wife. We became best friends. Then, the Navy took him to Florida. He divorced his second wife, then married Hollie. That's a little back story about Andy and I. Everything changed when Hollie entered his life. I never thought I would end a friendship over a girl.

That August I left for two weeks. I needed to come home for a little bit. It was then I decided to come back home. I was going to wait it out until April. But I couldn't wait any longer. After my visit home my best best friend of ten years moved to California. The Navy stationed her out there.

Flash forward to October. My best best friend let's call her Katie, had to go on a small deployment for a few weeks. She asked me to house sit for her, and I did not hesitate. I took her up on that offer. Now, before we get into that, I did damage Hollie's car on accident. It was my fault and I did pay for the damages. But because of work, I couldn't find a quote.

That pissed Hollie off.

Part two coming soon.