My Love:

The True Story of How I Met My Fiancé

  I was working at Subway when one of my regulars came in. One that I recognized for being there often while I was on the clock, but I didn’t really know him. I was getting ready to restock something when he said something that caught my attention. It was a single line from a movie, The Princess Bride, that I had known my entire life. All he said was “Have fun storming the castle.”
   At first I didn’t react to it, I just nodded and went back to what I had been doing. Then it finally struck me and I did a double take. A followed him along the line, surprised and unbelieving of what he’d just said. I asked, “You’ve seen that movie???” He said that he had, which I just couldn’t believe. I think I said something along the lines of it being a really good movie and then I wished him a good night. That was it for that night though, but when I saw him after that I couldn’t hide the big, cheesy grin that spread across my lips. I don’t know that he really noticed that though.
   A couple of weeks later he came into the store, like normal. I was cleaning the bathrooms at the end of my shift, so I didn’t notice him until he was at the register. I said hi to him and was about to go on with my business when he came up to me. He asked if he could question me and I told him to shoot. He asked, “Are you seeing anybody?”
   What must be understood at this point is that I had never been tempted on lying about something like that, but I was extremely unhappy in the relationship I had been involved in. I hesitated partly because I couldn’t find my voice, but mainly because part of me was screaming to tell him no. After a moment of debate I finally told him that I was with someone and apologized. I then asked him why he wanted to know. I don’t think that he said anything at that point, but I don’t really remember. I know he looked me up and down, and I’m pretty sure that words were exchanged before he left, but my mind was so consumed by the thought of someone actually being interested in me that I couldn’t pay attention. Until that point I really thought that the only way I was going to have any sort of a relationship with anyone, I would have to ‘give it up to them, meaning that without sex they would show no interest. That’s how horribly my self confidence had been damaged by my ex, and several other things that I happened in my life.
   Anyway, he got the ball rolling, and I decided that it was time to end the charade with my ex. I didn’t love him anymore, he knew it, and I was tired of living the lie day after day. It was about a month after he asked me if I had been seeing anybody that I ended the relationship for good, we were no longer engaged at that point, but we had still been seeing each other. It was a hard thing to do, not because I loved him, but because it’s hard to see something that had been going on for four years end so suddenly for idiotic reasons. If he had of kept his hands off of me then the relationship might not have ended and that point.
   Well, I started to search for him desperately after that. I was ready to start a new relationship, but I was so shy that when he did come into the store I found it impossible to speak to him about anything but his sandwich. I was often called a coward because of it, and teased by my fellow workers, all in good fun of course. Then, one night, the assistant manager basically gave me a pep-talk; she had been trying to convince me to talk to him. That was all that I needed.
   I still lacked the courage to give him the number directly, but I did know who his father was. After a while I got sick of being shy, and with shaking hands I wrote my name and number on a piece of paper. When his father came into the store for a sandwich I asked him to do me a favor and handed him the paper. It wasn’t until after the store closed that I got the voicemail he had left me, I had to wait to call him the next day though.

   We’ve been together for nine months now. We recently got engaged moved in together and I have never been happier in my life.


~Note~
My ex ended the relationship the day he grabbed me by the throat, even though he didn't know it yet. This story is missing a lot of details that should have been included, but I had a word limit. My fiancé helped a lot with my confidence problem, and figure that most of it was because of my ex. We figure that he was feeding on my weaknesses, and making sure that I didn't think I could get any better then him. One day I will put the entire story up, but for now this is enough.

© 2006 Pamela "Athilea" Johnson All rights reserved