I didn’t have a plan as I looked through his contacts and found Stacey’s number. I was running on adrenaline and anger as I clicked on her name. She was the only Stacey in his phone, so I knew it would be her. I put it on speaker and waited.
I expected him to jump up from the couch and tear the phone from my hand, but he just sat there quietly. His eyes stared through me and his mouth was stuck in a tight line. I could tell he was pissed, but he was the kind of man who let his emotions build until he was ready to explode. It wasn’t a good trait, but I’d only seen it happen once and thankfully it wasn’t toward me.
After the second ring, she picked up and the first thing she said was, “Hey, sexy.”
I could feel the tingling in my nose as the tears formed in my eyes. My body felt like it had been through a marathon as the adrenaline left my body. I knew it was coming, but looking at his face as she spoke through the phone broke my heart. I loved that man, and he was acting as if I meant nothing to him. The only emotion on his face was annoyance and it was directed straight at me.
I cleared my throat. “Hi, Stacey. It’s Em. Tim’s girlfriend.” The phone disconnected.
I stared at it in shock. She just hung up on me. I laughed because the whole situation felt like some kind of movie. “Oh, my God, she just hung up on me,” I said aloud, staring at the phone.
“Are you happy now?” he asked, glaring at me.
I looked at him with hurt in my eyes. “No, I’m not. I’m confused and upset. How could you do this? How long have you been doing this?” I thought deep down I’d be okay, but I wasn’t. I could feel my lip quivering as I tried to hold back my tears.
He shrugged and walked past me into the kitchen. “Does it really matter?”
“Yes, it does,” I demanded.
“It’s been going on for a year. I really should have ended things before that, but…” He shook his head and shrugged again. “I didn’t.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I wanted to throw the phone at him. Run away. Anything. But I didn’t. “No. Because you’re an inconsiderate asshole and you only think about yourself.” He’d officially ripped my heart out. “Why did you even want to move in together? I don’t understand why you’d just string me along,” I said through my tears. I couldn’t understand why he would do that to me. I’d been wasting my life away with him for the past year.
He placed his hands on the edge of the counter and leaned into it with his head bowed.
“I don’t know, Em. I figured it would be a one-time thing, but it wasn’t. I could come up with a ton of excuses as to why I did it, but I won’t. I did what I did because I wanted to.”
My mouth hung open in shock at his words. He did what he did because he wanted to? Who is this man? How did I not see what an asshole he truly is?
He walked to the refrigerator, grabbed a bottle of water and walked past me back into the bedroom, leaving me there with the shocked look still on my face. The argument was officially over. He wasn’t going to deny it; there really was no point for him to.
I walked to the couch and took a seat. I needed a minute for everything that had happened to sink in. My relationship was over. The man I loved acted as if he’d never loved me. I felt empty and yet somehow okay. Everything I’d been feeling and putting off had come to light. I, too, should have spoken up sooner. Maybe we would have saved each other heartache, although I was the only one affected by the turn of events.
When morning finally arrived, I stretched my aching back from sleeping on the couch. I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep, but all the adrenaline from the night before had worn out my body. It wasn’t a great night’s sleep, but it was the best I was going to get.
I looked toward the bar where I’d laid Tim’s phone after I’d called Stacey to see it was gone and so was the wallet, which had been sitting next to it. He must have left for work already and I slept through all the noise. I needed to take action and get all my things out, and it was time to call my sister.
I got up from the couch and grabbed my purse I’d placed on the foyer table to get my phone. As soon as she answered, I was a blubbering mess and couldn’t stop the tears as I explained everything. She met me at the apartment twenty minutes later and helped me pack up my things, which was mostly just clothes. We’d bought a lot of things together, but it was all purchased with Tim’s money so none of it was technically mine anyway.
Becky and Victoria met us at my sister’s and we spent the day lounging around her apartment. Victoria declared it ex-bashing day, but I vetoed that idea. I didn’t want to think about Tim or anything boy-related. Melanie’s roommate Quinn suggested we watch some action movies and get junk food. It sounded like a good enough idea to me, so that was what we did for the rest of the day.
However, as soon as everyone left and Melanie and Quinn went to bed, I was alone with my thoughts. How life could change in a matter of minutes, how one minute you could be happy and then the next heartbroken.