It was a cold January day in New York when I received a phone call from my best friend Elle. We had been roomies throughout our 20s and were now friends with benefits. Despite the unusual circumstances, I knew exactly what she was going to ask me. Elle had broken up with her boyfriend of two years, Charlie, and she wanted to know if I would be her friend one last time before she started dating again. In that moment, I knew it was over. I didn’t want to lose my best friend so soon after we had reconnected. Not to mention that I still loved Charlie. We had been through a lot together and had grown up a lot as a result.
The following week, I met Charlie for lunch. He looked the exact same as he did two years prior. He was still the funniest, cutest, and most romantic guy I had ever met. However, something was off. I could tell that he was trying. But his efforts were not enough to hide the fact that he was deeply unhappy. We chatted amiably about our days and he asked about Elle. I told him about her new love interest, Kenned, and how I had recently discovered they were dating. It was obvious that I was his only real friend at this point and he wanted to keep me close. So he decided to tell me about all the terrible things he had done. It was the first time I had ever heard about so many terrible things from him. Turns out, it had been going on for a while. But he had never gotten around to telling me about any of it. Now that he had my attention, he wasn’t going to let me go easily. His stories kept getting more and more sad until I finally broke down and told him that everything was going to be okay. We cried together and vowed to be there for each other through this difficult time.
The Unexpected Rise Of Charlie Harper
The following days were a blur. I kept thinking that things would look different when I woke up the next day. But it was always the same. Charlie was still working hard to prove to me that he could be a good boyfriend. He took Elle out on dates and bought her pretty gifts. He even got down on one knee and proposed to her. Elle said no thank you and walked away. Charlie seemed to take it badly. He told me that Elle was the love of his life and that he would do anything to make her happy. But I could tell that this was a lie. He didn’t love her and he was just trying to make me believe that he did. I begged Elle to give him another chance, but she was stubborn and wouldn’t listen. After that, Charlie became distant. I could tell that he didn’t want to hurt me, but he didn’t seem to know how to show his affection any other way. He started acting weird around me and I didn’t know how to handle it. So I avoided him as much as possible. The last time I saw Charlie was one Sunday afternoon. He asked me to go for a walk with him and we ended up talking about Elle for most of the walk. He said that he still loved her and that he wanted her back. I told him that I didn’t think that was a good idea and that he should let her go. He got really quiet and insisted that she was the best thing that had ever happened to him. I remembered the last words he said to me before he walked away and they still stick with me: “I don’t want to do anything that will hurt you.”
The following weeks were awful. I was at my wit’s end and didn’t know what to do. So I did the only thing I could think of. I posted a picture of Charlie and me on social media. I told my friends that I still loved Charlie and that this was a hard time for me. I never got any messages back from my friends. Some of them even blocked me on social media. But one of my friends, Kennedy, messaged me. She was the first person I had ever met who knew about Charlie and me. She had even helped me understand what was going on. So I decided to give her a call. She sounded nice, so I invited her over.
Kennedy Mccarthy Is…
…A wonderful woman. And she’s not a blonde. I wish I could say the same about Charlie. But Kennedy is different. She has dark hair and beautiful green eyes. She also happens to be the most amazing thing I have ever experienced. And I am not just saying that because she is my friend’s ex-fiancee. The day I met her was the day everything changed. I didn’t know it then, but that day changed my life. She showed up at my house with flowers and a smile on her face. I had never felt so happy and relaxed. It was like a whole load of stress had disappeared. I don’t have the words to describe what she did for me that day. I had butterflies the entire walk to the beach. It was like I was a 14-year-old kid again. She made me feel like everything was going to be okay. And it was. Thanks to her.
Our Differences In Perception
When I met Charlie, I thought he was the perfect boyfriend. He had just completed a 10-day speed hike around the world, climbed the Everest Base Camp, and was working on a movie about his experiences. He was also studying filmmaking at NYU. I thought he was fascinating and couldn’t wait to get to know him better. However, as time went on, I started to see things in Charlie that I didn’t like. He had become controlling and would make demands of me. He also started seeing me as a project and not as a person. One day, he came home and declared that he had booked tickets to see my favorite band, Muse, at the Beacon Theatre. He hadn’t even talked to me about it, so I knew that he had it planned before he even came home. But it was a surprise to me, considering that we rarely went out and I didn’t like Muse. The following day, I received a text message from Charlie: “Muse isn’t playing this weekend. But you’ll like another band. They’re called Dirty Projectors and they’re really good.” I was crushed. I had gone to see Muse when they were in town and had spent thousands of dollars on tickets and merch. Now I had to see if I could find a way to repay my debt. My mom had just gotten a new phone and she didn’t have reception where I lived. So I called my dad and asked him to go with me to see Muse. My dad is old fashioned and doesn’t like the idea of his daughter dating a rock star. So it was going to be difficult to get him to agree to see Muse with me. But I reminded him that this was important to me and that it was a chance to make me a part of his life. My dad agreed to go and he even liked the band, Muse. We saw them at the Beacon Theatre and they were amazing. After the show, my dad and I went outside and talked about the band for a long time. He had never heard of them and didn’t expect to like them, but he did. Now he and I go to every Muse show we can and buy every album they make. It’s amazing how much our opinion of someone can change after just one encounter. Or, in this case, one show.