And so it came to pass - the ginger had hooked up with vapid girl. This was a double edged sword because on the one hand, he moved in and became one of the roomies. I was now able to see a lot more of him as a result. The downside was that he now had vapid girl attached to his hip most of the time. It was almost unbearable for me. Every so often though, he'd come hang out in my room and watch me play video games and visit...
It was during this time that I learned he had developed a pretty serious drinking problem. I was sad to learn this news, but it didn't diminish him much in my eyes. We were all pretty young and did a lot of partying and I really didn't know what to say or do about it at the time.
Eventually, roomie #1 pissed off vapid girl and she decided to move back to her dad's house taking my ginger with her. A few months later, I too had reached my breaking point and followed suit. I moved out and finally had my first apartment of my own - no more roommates. By this time vapid girl and my ginger had found a place of their own as well and moved out of her dad's house. We visited each others places and talked on the phone often.
Then one day I got a phone call from vapid girl. She immediately blurted out that a mutual friend of ours (the sister of roomie #1's girlfriend) had been found murdered in her apartment. In shock, I took down the funeral info and made plans to attend. When I got to the funeral, I paid my respects to the family and ran into my ginger as I was heading back out of the room. He gave me the biggest hug, and I swear it felt like we we two puzzle pieces that fit perfectly together. As he was hugging me, my mind screamed..."Dump her! DUMP HER and be with ME!! *whimper* Please be with me?"...I never wanted him to let go, but vapid girl was approaching and we broke apart. After the funeral we went back to vapid girls place for some recreational smoking and he ran off to the liquor store. While he was gone she complained about his drinking and I suggested that if it was that bad perhaps she'd be better off without him. She dismissed that idea, she said she didn't want to live alone and he helped pay the rent.
As time went on however, she began to change her point of view. One day I went over to their place and found him sitting on the couch looking very sad. He was drunk and talking like he was moving out. My heart skipped a beat. Even knowing what I knew about him and his drinking, I still wanted him. Vapid girl arrived home and shot him a frowny face, he said good bye to me and wandered out of the apartment. After he left, vapid girl filled me in. She'd had enough of his drinking and had insisted he go to rehab. My heart sank. They weren't breaking up - he was just moving to in patient treatment for a while. *sigh* "Oh well" I thought, "at least he'll get some help with the drinking problem."
At some point during all of this, roomie #1 and his girlfriend had broken up. She now had a new boyfriend and was living at his house with him and his roommate the dj. Vapid girl developed a crush on the dj and started seeing him on the side while my ginger was in treatment. They'd had sex and she wanted a serious relationship with him but he made it clear that he was only out for a good time and as long as she was ok with that, they could do business. I gritted my teeth while she moaned to me about her broken heart and being shot down by the guy she was cheating with.
The next thing I knew, she had another dude on the side. It was the cook at the restaurant she waitressed at. Meanwhile my ginger was due to be released from rehab. She told him she didn't want him to move right back in - he had to have his own place for a while and prove he was going to stay sober. I was the building caretaker where I lived and helped him out. I mentioned there was a vacancy and put in a good word for him with my boss - he got the apartment and moved in downstairs from me. I couldn't have been happier! I got to see him every day again and we'd hang out chatting about anything and everything. He seemed to be trying to maintain sobriety and I really enjoyed his company. Unfortunately he was still vapid girl's boyfriend.
I continued visiting vapid girl at her house while he was living downstairs, and during one of those visits she said to me - quite cheerfully - that she was 'so through with the ginger, but she was going to continue to string him along a while longer because she had him wrapped around her finger so tight he'd do whatever she told him.' Inwardly I bristled, but managed to remain composed. I asked her how things were going with her other boyfriend and sat nodding politely while she went on about how much better he was than the ginger. Ugh. I was baffled. I thought the ginger was so beautiful in so many ways, inside and out - didn't she see it? For me the sun came out every time I saw him - he just lit up the room! He was charming, funny, smart, handsome...it seemed beyond criminal to cheat on him, he was such a gentle and trusting guy.
I wanted to tell him she was no good. I wanted him to leave her and be with me. I anguished over the information I had and what to do with it while at the same time maintaining my 'friendship' with vapid girl. She invited me over one night for some recreational smoking and tv watching, She said she'd order a pizza and we could hang out. While I was there, her other boyfriend showed up and she said she need to talk to him privately. She took him into the bedroom to talk and left me sitting on her couch for 45 minutes before I finally got bored and said I was going to split. At this point she popped out of the bedroom and said, 'no, no - you don't have to leave' but I was offended by that point and left anyway.
It was about 2 weeks later that word started to circulate in our circle - vapid girl was pregnant. "Shit" I thought, "now my ginger will never be rid of her." Then I learned it wasn't his baby - it was the cooks. Whoohoo! Unfortunately the ginger was crushed to hear this news. He then decided that he was single and cracked open a beer. He told me that being pregnant with another dude's baby was a deal breaker for him. But in my mind I was happy dancing. I realized that she had probably been giving the cook the 'I'm pregnant' talk that night she left me sitting on her couch.
He started spending more time with me, and invited me down to his apartment for dinner. He made falafels and was surprised to learn I'd never had them before. I thought they were delicious. I started catching him staring at me from time to time, and one afternoon after a bunch of us had gone down to the river to exercise my friends rottie, she told me matter-of-factly that she was 100% certain he liked me. I protested. "No" I said, "I don't think he's interested." I had been right in front of his face for years - surely he'd have made a move by now. She disagreed and said it again. "No. He likes you. I'm so sure that I'd bet money on it."
Later that night after I went to bed, the phone rang. I answered and it was the ginger. He said "At the risk of making a fool of myself - I'd like to grow old with you." I paused and then stammered, "what?" and he asked if he could come upstairs. I said ok and he was there in under a minute. I let him in and he asked if he could spend the night. Before I could answer he said he wouldn't 'try anything', he just wanted to sleep next to me. Obviously I said yes, and we both crawled into bed. True to his word, he didn't try anything - but I could feel him staring at me while I was trying to fall asleep. My whole body felt like it was buzzing just from being in such close proximity to him. I don't think either of us got any sleep that night.
This went on for about a week before he made his move, and when he did - fireworks! I was the happiest woman on the planet. The man I had been lusting after for years was finally mine and I was determined not to fuck it up.
Out of the blue I received a visit from vapid girl. She wanted to apologize for abandoning me in her living room and also to tell me of her pregnancy (she didn't know word had already gotten out I guess). She sat on my couch and gushed about how she 'wasn't ready for this' and that she wasn't supposed to be with the father (it'd already gone bad and she had a restraining order against him) but she was with him anyway because 'he was the baby's father and dammit the sex was good'. Then she asked how the ginger was doing and I answered "Well, speaking of good sex..." and told her that after the news got out, he and I had hooked up - but he was doing well.
She continued smiling and acted like it was no big deal, but I could see the flames roaring behind her eyes and after a little while longer she left for home - still acting like everything was cool. Once she got home though, she apparently had a major mental meltdown over it and she called my ginger and left a long shrieking rant on his answering machine. She actually had the nerve to be pissed that we hooked up after she got pregnant by some other dude. Lol, whatever bitch. He's mine now...
And he was mine from then until the day he died.
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