The summer after my first year of college, I went back home and stayed in H-Town. So basically I spent the entire summer going fucking nuts with Brittany, Natalie, Meghan, and some other girls we were friends with. At the beginning of the summer we all went to a party a bunch of NFL players were attending. I specifically remember what I wore: a red strapless bodycon dress, the most hideous chunky black heels and my signature gold hoop earrings. Obviously I thought I was the shit though. The party was at a condo complex downtown and apparently Brittany knew the host.

The place was packed. We elbowed through the crowd to get to the kitchen for drinks. Brittany’s friend greeted us and she gave him a really over the top hug and introduced us all. He introduced us to his friends and one in particular caught my eye. Let’s call him Adam. Adam was really tall and built, had dark hair and really straight teeth that were almost too big for his mouth. I could immediately tell that he was probably one of the NFL players because of his frame, but he was also kind of cute when he kept his mouth shut.

Plus, Adam was really into me. First, he just stood by his friends with a beer in his hand staring at me. And he wouldn’t look away when I caught him staring. That should’ve been my first sign that something was off with him. But I would just smile coyly back and he would smile and reveal his gigantic teeth.

He finally talked to me eventually. We decided to go hang out on the balcony and as I was walking away, Adam grabbed my elbow.

“I’ve been watching you all night,” he told me.

As if I didn’t notice!

But I smiled and said, “Really?”

“You’re beautiful,” he went on and I beamed.

We stayed inside talking in a corner of the kitchen and I found out that he was, in fact, an NFL football player and had just moved to Houston and bought a condo. He was kind of corny, but he was funny. Plus I was young and naive and gagging at the fact that a professional athlete was interested in me.

We exchanged numbers and had our first date the following week. He took me to Dave and Busters. Like to actually play games. And he won an oversized stuffed animal and gave it to me. Um, cute. It was so big that it had to sit in the backseat by itself.

When he dropped my off, he hugged me and gave me a peck on the lips. I got out and turned to shut the door and Adam was like, “Oh, you forgot your bear!” And wrestled it out of the backseat so I could keep it.

I said, “Thanks,” with a really big, fake smile because obviously I tried to leave it on purpose.

I continued hanging out with him for the next few weeks. He took me to the movies and to dinners and he would always give me a small peck at the end of the night, but we never did anything sexually. He was sweet, but not really edgy enough for me.

One night we went clubbing with his friend and Brittany. He wouldn’t let go of me the whole night and every time I tried to let go of his hand, he’d be like, “What, are you trying to find another guy?” And then smile at me with those teeth.

Eventually I talked him into letting me go to the bathroom and I grabbed Brittany to go with me.

“He’s smothering me,” I told her as soon as we got in there.

“He’s nice,” she replied, checking herself out in the mirror.

“He’s way too clingy. I can’t deal,” I went on.

Brittany turned to me and said, “Reese, you need to be happy a guy of his caliber is into you. He’s obsessed with you, takes care of you and isn’t trying to talk to every girl in the club. Stop being so ungrateful.”

Then she stormed out because I was being so ridiculous. I figured she was right and went back out there to find him. When it was time to leave, Adam told me he would give me a ride home. I was drunk and didn’t pay attention to anything until I realized that we missed the exit to get to my house.

“Heyyy, you missed my exit!” I exclaimed.

Adam looked at me. “Relax, sweetie. I have a surprise for you.”

Sweetie? Ew. But I’m into surprises so I calmed down and agreed. We ended up at some cute modern condos on the north side of the city. When Adam got out, I followed and he walked up to one of the condo doors.

“Is this your place? It’s so cute!” I squealed. I’d never been to his house before.

The inside was really industrial with concrete floors and exposed beams and ductwork. I walked inside until I found the living area, flipped on the light and flopped on the couch. Adam followed me in and didn’t immediately sit down. He messed around near the entertainment center until some slow music came on. He disappeared then came back with a bottle of champagne and a platter. I stretched so I could see what it was. Chocolate covered strawberries.

“Mmmm, I love those!” I enthused as he sat next to me. I reached on the tray to get one, but Adam quickly pushed my hand away.

“I’ll feed you,” he told me.

Oh. I’m not really into romance, but I let him feed me a strawberry. I wanted one that bad. He poured us some champagne then we leaned back against the couch.

“I think I’m in love with you,” Adam stated.

I indicated that I wanted him to feed me more strawberries and didn’t say anything about him loving me. Eventually he told me that my real surprise was in the bedroom. I just sat there and he’s like, “Are you going to go see your surprise, Reese?”

I got up and walked to his bedroom. Even before he turned the light on, I could see rose petals all over the floor. I had to physically stop myself from laughing. The light came on and I saw rose petals leading to the bed and some sort of pink and black lingerie garment laying on the bed.

“This is your surprise, sweetie,” Adam said behind me. He walked around me and gestured toward the lingerie. “Do you want to go change into this? I want to see you in it.”

That’s when I laughed. It was so fucking ridiculous. Adam stared at me and his smile faded once he realized I was laughing at him.

“I’m sorry, this just isn’t my style at all,” I explained.

“What isn’t your style?” Adam asked defensively.

“Just everything. It’s too much. You didn’t have to do all this,” I said.

“Really? So you’d rather sleep with a guy who doesn’t put in any effort?”

“Not this kind of effort.”

Adam threw the lingerie back on the bed and stormed out of the bedroom. He returned a minute later with a small trash can and started hastily shoving the rose petals in.

“You don’t have to do that, Adam. I appreciate the gesture,” I said. All the drama was making me sober up.

“No, it’s fine, Reese,” he said bitterly. “No one ever appreciates anything.” And then he went on this rant about ungrateful women who just want to sleep around with douchebag guys and don’t give nice guys a chance. I just stood there watching him uncomfortably.

I ended up getting him to calm down a little bit because I needed a ride home or at least a place to stay for the night. We got in bed to go to sleep and Adam actually spooned me so I thought we were good.

The next morning, I woke up to Adam nudging me.

“Are you ready to go home?” he asked as soon as I opened my eyes.

“Um, yeah. What time is it?” I said back.

“Six.” Adam got up and started getting dressed.

We’d left the club at around three am so we probably only slept for a couple of hours. I rolled out of bed and gathered my things then met Adam out in the living room. He informed me that he called me a cab and it was waiting for me downstairs. I wasn’t about to argue with him about not taking me home so I just said okay. I waited around for Adam to say goodbye and hug me or something, but he stood facing away from me staring out the window. So I shouted goodbye and let myself out.

Obviously he was pissed about how the night went so when I got home I texted him to make amends. But my message was undeliverable. He fucking blocked my number!

So that was the last of Adam. I literally didn’t talk to him again. A few days later Brittany asked me what I’d done to him because he was talking about me and how evil I am. All because I laughed at his little rose petal and lingerie set up.

Last I saw, Adam was making it rain in strip clubs around Houston so good for him.

I went out with Preston and company on Friday night. We went to some bars in River North and basically drank for free because everyone wanted to buy us shots and drinks. By the time we were ready to call it a night, I was stumbling and complaining about missing my boyfriend. I was probably being “that girl” and getting on everyone’s nerves, but whatever. Naturally, I had my Uber driver take me to Brady’s. He was actually still awake and sitting on the couch watching tv when I got there.

“Babyyyyyyyy,” I exclaimed and threw myself on top of him of him. He started to hug and kiss me, but I jumped up and pulled him off the couch.

I led him to the bedroom and started taking off my clothes and got in bed, hoping he would follow suit. He climbed on top of me and we started kissing like we hadn’t seen each other in months. Suddenly Brady got up and reached in the nightstand for a condom. I rolled my eyes and grabbed his waist and guided him into me before he could even get it on. Apparently I was sick of making him use them.

We proceeded to have two of the best sex sessions that we’ve probably ever had. I was pretty drunk, but it was amazing.

When I woke up on Saturday morning, I was naked and sticky and could barely open my mouth. I felt like shit. Brady was next to me, still sleeping. I climbed over him and went to the bathroom to shower. An hour and a half later, I emerged feeling like a new person. Brady was sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for me to come out.

“Hey,” I said.

He looked up at me and said, “Hey,” back.

It seemed like we hadn’t had a normal conversation in weeks so neither of us knew what to say. I figured we should probably talk though especially now that we were both sober and willing to be nice to each other.

“Let’s go to breakfast,” I suggested and Brady nodded.

We got dressed in silence then went to a place not far from Brady’s. We had to wait a few minutes for our table to be ready and while we sat on one of the benches waiting, I said, “I’m really sorry about the way I’ve treated you the past few weeks.” I guess I just wanted to get that out of the way right away.

Brady looked up at me and looked super surprised. “It’s okay.”

“No it isn’t,” I said. “You should really call me out when I act like that.”

He laughed. “Okay.”

“Why are you laughing?” I asked, confused.

“Because you don’t allow anyone to call you out. Especially me,” he explained.

Before I could clarify what that was supposed to mean, the host came and informed us that our table was ready. They put us in a booth and I was being kind of needy and didn’t want to leave Brady’s side so we sat on the same side of the booth. Brady pretended it was normal.

He ordered waffles and stuff, but since I’m on a diet I ordered an egg white and spinach omelette from the kids menu and one slice of turkey bacon. Brady asked if I was sure that was all I wanted and I glared at him.

After our waiter went to put in our order, I said, “I’m just having a hard time getting the mental picture of you and Jessica out of my head.”

“Oh. I’m sorry,” he said, looking down at the table and not at me.

“I talked to her, you know. We messaged on Facebook.”

“Oh.”

“She’s a bitch.”

“Yeah.”

I touched the side of Brady’s face and and made him look at me. “You agree that she’s a bitch?”

“Well, her actions have proven that she kind of is, right?” he replied.

“Absolutely,” I agreed. “So what happened after you had sex with her?”

“What do you mean?”

“It seems like you both dislike each other now…”

Brady shrugged. “I don’t dislike her, but I would prefer not to speak to her.”

“Why?”

“Because I have no reason to,” he said.

I didn’t say anything because I was irritated at him for not having a reason. Whatever. I was done talking about her. Time to talk about us.

“I just want you to know that I’m not upset at you for doing something with someone while we were broken up because I did too. I was just hurt that it was her and I had to find out from her,” I explained. 

Brady looked taken aback. I think he debated with himself for a moment before saying, “You did?”

“Of course I did,” I grinned. “Are you kidding? Guys were falling at my feet when they found out I was single.”

“Oh.” Brady looked back down at the table.

I hugged him and said, “Love you.”

After our food came we ate in silence for a little bit. Brady offered me some of his waffle and I told him I was fine. Then he cut a little square off and put it on my plate. I glared at him as I ate it. It was phenomenal.

I watched him take a bite of his food then I said, “Brady, I want to ask you something and I want you to be 100% honest with me, please.”

He nodded.

“Do you actually see our relationship going anywhere or are you just having fun?” I asked, using Aunt Kat’s phrase.

I started to panic a little bit when Brady didn’t respond right away, but then I realized he was still chewing. Even though he was probably chewing slowly to buy some time.

“I hope our relationship goes somewhere. I wouldn’t be with you if I didn’t think it would,” he answered. Then cautiously he asked, “Why do you ask?”

“I guess I’m just thinking about how your mom doesn’t think we have anything in common and now I’m wondering why we are together,” I said.

“I love being around you. I’m almost certain we could do anything together and enjoy ourselves. We have a ton of fun even when we’re just sitting on the couch watching tv. We rarely get tired of each other. And for that reason, I don’t think it’s really necessary to have a lot in common.”

I looked at Brady like this :D. It was such a sweet thing to say.

“How come you don’t tell me anything?” I asked.

“I do tell you things,” Brady said with his brow furrowing.

I shook my head. “You didn’t tell me you had the opportunity to go to Africa for two months!”

“I didn’t see any reason to because I decided not to go!”

“But don’t you think it’s a big enough thing that I would want to know? Or am I just so shallow that you didn’t think I would care?” I asked. Before Brady could say anything I continued. “I do care about things other than clothes and alcohol. I know it’s hard to believe.”

“I’m sorry. I’ll try to keep you more informed from now on,” he said.

“It’s not even just that. You started talking to Hunter again and didn’t even tell me. That’s a huge fucking deal. Why wouldn’t you tell me that? I had to find out for myself.”

“I’m sorry. I thought I told you.”

My mouth dropped open because I was so dumbfounded. “Brady, you know you didn’t tell me that. You don’t tell me anything. Almost everything I know about you, I have to find out myself. You’re so secretive and private. I should know everything about you! It makes our relationship feel so superficial when you don’t tell me what’s going on in your life!”

Brady’s neck started turning red. “I’m sorry.”

“I just wish you’d be more open with me,” I said after taking a deep breath to calm myself.

“I’ll try harder to do that,” he said.

We were silent as we continued eating and drinking our OJ. I thought about what Brady said about us not needing to have anything in common. I actually loved what he said and decided that I agreed completely. We balance each other out.

“One more question,” I said after several minutes.

“Okay,” Brady nodded, not looking up at me.

“Do you actually want to get married?”

“I don’t want to right now, but eventually, yes. I would love to.”

“To me?”

Brady looked at me and laughed. “Uh, yes. To you.”

“Really?” This was obviously the answer I was expecting, but hearing him say it made me squeal.

“If you’d be willing to put up with me forever,” he said.

“Not if you don’t ever tell me anything,” I rolled my eyes.

We stayed at the restaurant for another hour talking. I forced him to open up and talk to me. I made him tell me about Africa and why he decided not to go. I made him tell me about Hunter and where he was for six months. I asked him what his parents had to say about my parents. I asked him what he likes most about me. I was kind of interrogating him, but in a nice way. And right after he paid the bill, I made him promise that he wasn’t going to keep anything from me anymore and he said he would try really hard to be more open.

After we left the restaurant, Brady needed to go into work for a few hours. Annoying. So he let me keep his car while he worked. I’m actually really surprised he did because the last time I drove his car, I had a bit of an accident. He’s since gotten it fixed though.

I ended up going to Kendra’s to hang out with her. She had no idea what was going on with me and Brady and I decided not to tell her because we were past it. Plus, there was no reason to talk about such a negative thing when she’s so excited about her wedding. She’s getting married in like two months. Isn’t that insane? I thought she planned on having a long engagement, but I feel like they kind of rushed it.

Kendra kept mentioning how much stuff she had to do and how busy she was so I took that as her nicely asking me to leave. So I went back to Brady’s and waited for him to tell me to pick him up. To my surprise though, while he was at work he texted me: “You don’t have to answer this, but did you actually sleep with someone while we were broken up?”

“Do you really want to know?” I texted back.

“If you want to tell me.”

I debated with myself for a moment. He gave me the option of not telling him, but if I wanted him to be honest with me then I had to be honest with him. So I said, “I did.”

Brady just said, “Okay.”

And then I said, “It was Carly’s brother. That’s why she was so mad at me.”

Brady didn’t text back and then I fell asleep. I kept my phone right next to my head though so I could hear if he called or texted me. But he ended up coming home and climbing on top of me in the bed. I actually started to scream because I was so confused but then Brady laughed and kissed me.

“I missed you,” I said, still half asleep.

“I missed you, too,” he said as he started undressing me. And then we hooked up and Brady didn’t mention Kyle at all.

On Sunday we slept in then ordered lunch from GrubHub because we are lazy. We hooked up and I came like three times because Brady is so good. Afterwards, I realized that he is really good in bed for a reason. So I asked him how many sexual partners he’s had.

“God, Reese,” he groaned.

“What?” I asked innocently. “It’s just a question. And you promised you’re going to be more open with me.”

Brady looked like he regretted telling me that.

“Just tell me. I honestly don’t care,” I encouraged him.

And then Brady told me. Well, he didn’t tell me an exact number. He gave me a range which I feel like means he probably can’t even remember all his sexual partners. And I’m not a saint at all by any stretch of the imagination and it was literally over twice (almost three times) as many people as I’ve been with.

I gasped. “What? Seriously?”

He didn’t say anything.

“That’s so gross. I’m honestly shocked,” I went on.

“What? I was different in college. It was a phase,” he defended himself.

“I went to the biggest party school in America and even I haven’t slept with that many people!” I exclaimed.

Brady looked down and I realized that I was being a judgmental bitch. “But I suppose it’s different because I’m a girl. How old were you when you lost your virginity?” I added.

“I was sixteen. You?” Brady said, looking back at me.

“Eighteen. Who did you lose it to?” I asked.

Brady looked like he wanted to die. “I seriously don’t want to talk about this, Reese.”

I realized that I didn’t either so I changed the subject. Later on once the sun was setting we decided to go for a run. Three fucking miles. When we got back I was drenched in sweat, but I had that post workout glow. I decided to document it for some of my Snapchat boys (do y’all have a bunch of meaningless boys you Snap selfies to just to get compliments?). I sat on Brady’s bed taking a selfie that included my face and body and Brady said, “Who are you sending that to?”

His tone sounded accusatory so I said, “What?” innocently.

“Who are you sending that picture to?” he repeated.

“It’s for Snapchat,” I explained and showed him my phone. The picture was already sent so the screen was the list of guys I’d sent it to.

“Seriously? You took a picture with your boobs and body all out like that and sent it to a dozen guys?”

I was wearing a pair of Nike Pro shorts and a sports bra because I’d stripped as soon as we got inside. Obviously I’d made sure my workout outfit was in the picture because that was the point.

“It was mostly just my face. And I set it for only three seconds so they won’t even have a chance to see my body,” I said.

“What’s the point of that anyway?” he asked.

“Snapchat? It’s fun. You should get it,” I enthused.

“I don’t want it and I don’t see why you have it especially if you’re sending pictures like that. Is that the kind of stuff they send you too?”

“It’s mostly just food and stuff.”

“That’s stupid.”

So I deleted Snapchat. Especially because one of the first responses I got was a shirtless pic from a guy that said, “Why don’t we ever work out together?” I never realized that my interactions on Snapchat could be considered inappropriate because I hardly ever even see any of those guys and the pictures last less than ten seconds. But I deleted it and I don’t even miss it. Yet.

Brady and I still haven’t had the conversation and I don’t want to say he’s the one to blame, but he is. Obviously.

On Monday, I called my doctor to talk about birth control options. He was busy so I had to talk to the nurse, who really just wanted to make me feel bad about not wanting a child and not wanting to use condoms with my serious boyfriend.

She said, “If you don’t want to get pregnant you really should use some sort of contraceptive and a condom every single time you have intercourse.”

That’s what they always say and I don’t and I’ve been fine. So I told her I’d come see my doctor later. All the talk of birth control and sex made me really miss my boo. He texted me asking what time I planned on leaving work, after I’d already left work and was having dinner and drinks with Luke.

“I’m off and I’m having Mexican food with Luke,” I told him.

“Will you come over after?” he asked and I replied that I would think about it.

After dinner I was tipsy and went shopping at Preston’s store with Luke then I had to take all my purchases home so I never made it to Brady’s. I could tell he was disappointed when he texted me, “Night,” at like 9:00 PM.

My ex Devin called me on Monday night and I sent him to voicemail. He immediately texted my saying, “Call me. I have to ask you something.”

Curiosity got the best of me and I ended up calling him back. He said he’s serious about opening his own office here in Chicago and he’s going to visit at the end of the month for meetings. He asked if I would work for him and I literally laughed until I cried.

“First of all, you wouldn’t even be able to pay me what I make now. And no offense, Devin, but you’re the last person on earth I’d want to work for,” I explained.

“Ouch,” he laughed. “Don’t you believe me that I’ve changed? I’m not that guy anymore.”

I told him I could refer some people to him, but I would not leave my current job. He asked if we could see each other when he visits.

“No way. My boyf wouldn’t like that,” I said.

“What’s his name? Bobby?” Devin said.

I rolled my eyes. “You know what his name is.”

“He can come to. He’s not gonna stop me from doing what I want.”

After we hung up Devin texted me telling me the dates he would be in Chicago. And I told him I would let him know my schedule even though I know I’m not going to hang out with him.

On Tuesday, Brady finally got me to come over. After work I got a mani pedi then went to the gym. After that I made myself a light kale and avocado salad for dinner. I’m going back to not eating like I want to end up on My 600-lb Life so no more cheeseburgers and hot dogs and donuts and shit.

While I was eating, Brady texted me asking what I was up to. I told him that I was eating dinner and could come over later. So naturally I took my time showering and getting ready and finally showed up at like 8:45. I can’t even lie, I was so happy to see him although I wasn’t about to let him know that.

“Hey, ‘sup?” I greeted him. He was in the living room on his laptop, but put it down when I walked in. I was making a beeline for the stash of wine.

“How are you?” Brady asked following me.

“Fine.” I poured myself a hefty glass of red and took it to the living room where Brady’s work station was set up. I sat in one of the side armchairs and propped my feet and Miu Miu sandals up on the coffee table.

“How was your day?”

“It was fine.”

Brady nodded and smiled like I was being really ridiculous which I kind of was. He worked in silence for a few minutes and then he said, “How’s work been?”

And I said, “It’s been okay.”

So I sat there drinking wine while he worked for an hour. He looked so good that eventually I got up and went to his room. He followed me and I started getting undressed. We started fooling around and I knew we were going to have sex because that was my goal, but I wanted him to think it was my idea.

“Braaaady,” I said in a super annoying high pitched voice. “Undress me.”

He undressed me slowly and sensually which is not Brady at all. After I sat on his face for a while, he grabbed my waist and pulled me down to his erect penis. I squirmed out of his grasp and demanded he get a condom.

“Oh really? Okay,” he said like he was surprised.

“Uh yeah. You had sex with the nastiest girl walking and I’d rather not catch anything, thanks,” I said really sarcastically.

“Okay, okay,” Brady said frustratedly. I smiled to myself.

So we had sex for a really long time. After a certain point it isn’t really enjoyable and it got to that point. I got really frustrated and pushed Brady off me.

“You can leave,” I informed him.

“Hmm?”

“Go sleep on the couch or something. The bed is mine.”

“What? Reese.”

I’m not sure why I was kicking him out of his own room, but the fact that he was attempting to stand up to me provoked me even more.

“I don’t want to sleep with you. Go away!” I yelled.

Brady mumbled something then got up and started getting dressed. He reached for one of the four pillows on the bed and I pushed him away like I was a mother lion protecting her cubs.

“I can’t at least take a pillow? Why are you being ridiculous?” he asked.

“You know why I’m being ridiculous. If I have to remind you, you’re going to wish you never met me. Now get out of my face,” I said bitchily.

He sighed and walked out, shutting the door behind him. I fell asleep almost immediately, but then I woke up in the middle of the night looking for my boo. He wasn’t there and I was annoyed at him for that. I crawled out of bed and padded to the living room where I found Brady sleeping on the couch with no pillow and no blanket.

“Brady!” I called. He didn’t wake up so I’m yelled his name so loud that the people upstairs probably heard me.

“What?” he said, rolling over groggily.

“Come to bed!”

Brady mumbled something I couldn’t quite make out and I grabbed his forearm tightly.

“Reese,” he said fully awake now. He tried to pull his arm out of my grasp, but I squeezed tighter.

“Come onnnn,” I whined. “Come snuggle with me.” I tried to pull him off the couch, but he pulled away hard.

“Stop! Get off me!” he said sternly.

I scoffed. “Ugh, what’s wrong with you?”

Brady realized how rude he was so he shook his head and said he was fine. I motioned for him to follow me then I skipped back to his room. I made him give me a foot massage because my sandals hurt my feet.

I woke up on Wednesday morning because Brady was up getting ready for work. He walked out of the closet tying his tie and I glared at him. I’m not sure why.

“What?” he asked like he was annoyed.

“I want a waffle,” I told him.

Brady just looked at me for a minute then checked his watch and said okay. When he came back with my yummy waffle topped with fruit, I asked him to feed it to me.

“Reese,” he groaned.

I snatched the plate and said, “Just kidding, jeez.”

Right before Brady left to go to work, I stopped him and said, “We need to talk.”

“Okay,” he said, glancing at his watch. “Right now?”

“Obviously not right now. I’ll let you know when. Bye!”

Brady didn’t talk to me all day Wednesday so I was even more annoyed with him. I finally met up with Kendra after work and all she wanted to talk about was her wedding and John and her parents. Literally I couldn’t get a word in at all. I let her talk though because she’s getting married soon and she deserves all the attention and blah blah blah.

On Thursday, Luke and I worked for a few hours then we told everyone we were going to do research around the city. Really, we were heading to the suburbs to go shopping. I was in the middle of a Nordstrom dressing room when Whitney texted me.

“Hey, are you close by?” she said.

“Not really. Why?” I replied.

“Someone is delivering flowers for you. Should I just sign?”

Ooo, flowers! I said, “Please.”

I knew they were from Brady, but a teeny tiny part of me was hoping that Devin really had changed his ways and was trying to win me back. Not that I would ever even consider thinking of possibly trying to date him again. Ew.

When I got back to the office I found a bouquet of red and pink roses on my desk. They were from Brady. And he sent a sweet one word card. I was kind of annoyed with him for the entire gesture.

Later that night when I got home, I texted him thanking him for the flowers. I was surprised when he sent me a really long text back. Basically he said that he loves and appreciates me and how he probably doesn’t deserve for me to forgive him, but he really hoped I would. It actually made me cry. I don’t understand why he even likes me. Especially after how I treated him for the past week.

I pulled myself together and told him that we should talk next week. He told me to just let him know when and I could tell he thinks I’m going to break up with him hence the flowers and texts and stuff.

I know I’m not going to break up with him though. Obviously. I know I’m crazy, but that’s bae. Last night I even bought us tickets to go to Houston next month. We will probably talk on Sunday after I party all weekend with my friends. Priorities.

I let Brady stew pretty much all day Thursday. He texted me around lunch saying, “I hope you’re having a good day.” As if I could have a fucking good day after that! And then he texted me telling me something funny his boss said and I didn’t reply.

I did, however, reply to Jessica. As much as I tried to hold off, I physically couldn’t. Especially since Luke was sitting in my office with me feeding me lines. The first thing I said back was, “Oh, super classy. Sneaking a pic right after having sex with someone? Not creepy AT ALL.” And then I added, “Babe looks good as always though.” Which, if we’re being honest, he did.

An hour later, Jessica said, “So you let your babe do whatever he wants? Sounds like a healthy, happy relationship to me. :-)”

Obviously I was sitting by my phone waiting for her to respond so I replied back, “Brady hooked up with you during the two months we were broken up when he was super sad and desperate. He still came running back to me though so clearly opening your legs can’t make him be with you. Sorry!”

She replied, “I do not want him, trust me.”

“So you just had sex with him and took a picture to show me because you thought it would be fun?”

“You started this and I finished it. 🙂 You should have attacked your babe instead of me because in the end he still asked me to come over and begged me to have sex with him.”

Ew. I imagined Brady begging Jessica to have sex and got really grossed out and embarrassed. “So you had sex with him to prove a point? You’re much more pathetic than I thought.”

“I did it because I wanted to. You were the furthest thing from either of our minds obviously :-)”

I wanted to fucking strangle her and all her fucking smileys. But from our conversation I gathered that she didn’t know Brady and I were broken up at the time. So he let her believe he was cheating on me with her. Why would he do that?

Brady asked me to get dinner that night, but I was so annoyed by my conversation with Jessica that I didn’t want to see him. So I said, “No,” and he said, “Okay.” Whatever. I stayed home and worked out.

On Friday, I made plans to go to dinner with Kendra and Preston. Obviously Brady wasn’t invited. He texted me on Friday morning saying, “How did you sleep?” and then later on when I didn’t reply he said, “How’s your day going?”

I was so frustrated! He was seriously just going to pretend nothing happened. So I said, “How the fuck do you think it’s going, Brady?”

“Not good,” he said back.

“Exactly. Can you stop pretending like everything is okay?”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know if you wanted to talk about it.”

“OF COURSE I WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT, I NEED ANSWERS.”

So for the next six hours Brady and I talked about everything via text. I knew we probably needed to have this conversation in person, but it was helpful to be able to actually think about my questions and not impulsively scream whatever came to my head. He probably thought the same thing.

From our texts I found out some important information though. I made him tell me exactly what happened when they hooked up including the date. According to him it was the middle/end of March so literally right before we got back together. Not a impulsive hook up right after getting his heart broken like me. Asshole. He said he was out with friends (Chris? Carly?) and he was texting Jessica who was also out. They ended up at the same bar, had some drinks and took a cab back to his place. I asked whose idea it was and Brady said he couldn’t remember. Meaning it was his idea.

We haven’t used condoms in months so I asked how he had one readily available when Jessica randomly came over one night (thanks Arianna for pointing this out!) and he claimed to have some left over which I guess I can’t argue with. Then I asked the most important question, why the fuck was he texting Jessica when they supposedly stopped talking ages ago?

Brady said that Jessica got a new job and doesn’t work in the hospital with him anymore. Apparently the week she was leaving she approached him and let him know that she wouldn’t be working there anymore. He said this was after we broke up and he figured he was allowed to keep in contact with her since I was no longer in the picture. Which I felt was kind of a rude thing to admit to me, but cool. They texted sometimes and only hung out the one time they had sex. And THEN – get this – after they hooked up Brady stopped talking to her and blocked her on Facebook because he regretted it. I even got on Facebook to confirm it and they aren’t friends. I don’t know how believable that is because I assume Jessica would have sent me the picture as soon as Brady stopped talking to her and stuff so I don’t know.

I asked him if he told Jessica that we broke up and he said he couldn’t remember, but he didn’t think so. He said he didn’t want to talk about me to her though because of everything that happened and he didn’t want her bad mouthing me. Lol yeah fucking right.

After I got all the answers I needed, Brady started groveling and apologizing and telling me how much he loves me and wants to marry me. It was really over the top and not Brady at all. I even said, “How come you never say any of this until shit hits the fan?” He made up some excuse about not knowing how to express his feelings. I told him he needs to figure that shit out.

I kind of just stopped responding eventually. Brady asked if he could see me and I told him no because I was hanging out with my friends. Kendra ended up canceling at the last minute so Preston and I met up for pizza. As soon as we sat down I started telling him what happened. He literally screamed at the top of his lungs and everyone at the surrounding tables turned to look at us rudely.

“That shady fucking bitch,” Preston hissed. “She didn’t wait a minute to bust it wide open for him, did she?”

“But apparently she didn’t know we were broken up. So she thought he was cheating on me,” I said.

“So she wanted to be the mistress? She ought to be ashamed,” he went on.

We took a shot in honor of her. Then we met up with some of his friends at a bar in hipster central (guess which neighborhood, Chicagoans!). This hot guy with a ponytail hit on me, but I was mean to him and gave him a really hard time. He was pretty persistent though which I admired. Another guy asked Preston’s friend, Julia, if she thought he had a chance with me. He definitely didn’t because he tried to talk to me through another person. Grow some balls, ya know?

When it was time to leave, I called an Uber and put in Brady’s address. It was kind of an accident, but I was kind of drunk and wanted see him. On the way there I texted him, “Let me in,” and buzzed the buzzer obnoxiously until he came and got me.

“Hi,” I said, walking past him.

“How are you?” Brady asked.

“Fine,” I replied. I walked to the bedroom, took off everything except my bra and panties and got in bed.

“Where did you go tonight?”

“Out.”

We were in the dark, but I saw Brady take off his shirt and lay down next to me. “Did you have fun?”

I climbed on top of him and started kissing his neck instead of answering. Soon we were making out and I was tugging at his shorts.

“Do you have a condom?” I asked.

“Uhh,” Brady paused for several seconds. “Yeah, hang on.”

You can never be too sure! Brady leaned over to look in the nightstand and couldn’t find one after a minute. He told me to hold on again while he got up to look elsewhere. I got really irritated that he didn’t have one on hand. What did he do when Jessica came over? Surely he wasn’t searching around his whole house for one. A short time later, Brady returned.

“Ugh, would you come on,” I whined impatiently.

He apologized then proceeded to go down on me. It was amazing per usual. After we had sex, Brady snuggled me and told me he loved me and that he was happy I was there. I was literally like, “Okay, whatever.”

I peeled him off me, got out of bed and started getting dressed and Brady said, “Are you leaving?”

“Mmhmmm!” I replied like it was normal.

“Oh.”

I called my Uber and yelled, “Bye!” before rushing out of there. I didn’t even get a chance to hear Brady say goodbye back. I made the driver stop at McDonald’s so I could get chicken nuggets then I went home.

I had a text from Brady the next morning that said, “Morning.” I didn’t reply.

I spent the majority of the day cleaning, shopping online and texting my ex. I know, it’s weird. He texted me on Wednesday night when I was dealing with everything with Brady and Jessica and I didn’t have a chance to block him. He texted me from a new iCloud account because I have all his numbers blocked. On Saturday he texted me again saying, “Hellooooo?”

And I was so bored that I actually replied saying, “What do you want?”

Devin said, “Whoa, I can’t see how my first love is doing?”

I rolled my eyes. I’m pretty sure Devin and I were never in love even though I thought we were at the time.

“I’m fine. Do you need something?” I asked.

And to my surprise, he actually apologized for how he treated me while we were in college. He was like, “I’ve grown up a lot and can admit that I acted like an ass to you. I want to make it up to you.”

I said, “It’s too late and I don’t care anymore. I don’t need anything from you.”

I continued responding to his texts though and realized that he actually might have grown up. He was being really sweet and nice to me, but not in the insincere way he was when he needed me to forgive him for being a douche. He didn’t end every text with an emoji or “lol” and he was actually using proper English. So we texted all day. It was so weird. He told me about life in LA and his job and all his friends who work in the entertainment industry. It sounds like he does aggressive party and event promoting for a sponsorship company. Such a Devin job. He said he spends a lot of time in Dallas too because his company has an office there. He said he wants to open his own office eventually too and asked if I thought Chicago would be a good place to do it. *eye roll* He asked me about Brady and I refused to talk about him. Not because I didn’t want to talk about my boyfriend, but I just knew Devin wouldn’t understand and it would piss me off. We were getting along so nicely.

Brady texted me throughout the day and asked me if I wanted to do anything that night. I said no because I had plans. Plans were watching HGTV and eating peanut butter. On Saturday night, he sent me a picture of a glass of beer and said, “Wish you were here.” I wanted to know exactly where he was and who he was with, but I wasn’t about to let him know that. So I didn’t say anything.

On Sunday I hung out with Luke at my apartment’s pool. We filled some reusable cups with orange juice and tequila and laid out talking. Brady called me and I sent him to voicemail so he texted me, “I had to go into work for a few hours, but I’m getting off soon. Do you want to come over?”

I sent back a sunglasses selfie saying, “Sorry, hanging out with my friend!” And he didn’t say anything back until later when he was like, “Will you make some time for me? I miss you.”

This made me feel a teensy bit bad, but not really because he hooked up with Jessica and wasn’t trying hard enough to make it up to me. I fell asleep really early last night which was nice because I was sleep deprived. I had texts from both Brady and Devin when I woke up and I only decided to text Devin back even though I dreamed about Brady. Oops.

I never really get on Facebook anymore. I check it maybe 2-3 times a week because I can’t stand all the stupid statuses and complaining and controversy. I want to delete it, but I have some people to spy on so I don’t.

Anyway, I changed my Facebook profile picture on Sunday night to a cute picture of me and Brady. I didn’t log on again until Wednesday evening before I left work. I had a bunch of notifications (people liking my pictures, commenting, birthday announcements – by the way, why does Facebook notify me of people’s birthdays? I don’t care) and a message. From Jessica (For those of you just joining us, Jessica is Brady’s coworker who gave him a BJ once. Since then she’s been like my arch nemesis, but I honestly forgot all about her).

I had no idea why she would possibly be messaging me, but my first thought was that she wanted to apologize for being a whore. Yeah right.

I opened it and found a picture. Jessica sent me a fucking picture of my boyfriend. It was of him putting his shirt on, but you could see his face and bare torso. It kind of looked like he was standing in front of his bed and the picture was taken by someone laying in the bed. A few hours after she sent the picture she sent a single smiley face.

If I had any doubt what the picture meant, the smiley confirmed it. He was getting dressed and she was laying in the bed. Obviously they had just engaged in some sort of sexual relations. I felt my lunch creeping back up.

For a full minute I couldn’t decide whether I was going to reply to Jessica and ask why the fuck she sent me that picture or if I was going to confront/murder Brady. I stared at the picture and determined that I was not about to give Jessica the satisfaction of knowing she upset me. Brady had to die.

I texted Brady, “Where are you?” while I drove to his house. He replied that he was on his way home and did I need anything? I told him no. I don’t even know what was going through my head. When did this happen? Did they actually have sex? Was the picture even real?

Luckily, I only had to wait a few minutes for Brady to get home after I got there. I met him at the door and I think I said something along the lines of, “Well, look what I received today.”

I shoved my phone in Brady’s face so he could see the message Jessica sent me. He had his laptop bag and keys in his hands and I didn’t give him to opportunity to even put it down.

I watched as Brady looked at my phone, saw the picture, studied it and form a very subtle look of confusion and then alarm. He looked back at me blankly.

“What is this?” I demanded.

Brady stared at me and didn’t say anything.

“What is this?!” I asked again, this time raising my voice even higher.

“It was while we were broken up,” he finally spoke up.

“Did you have sex with her?”

Brady did not break eye contact as he said, “Yes.”

I actually laughed. It was all so ridiculous.

“Seriously? Out of all the women on the planet, you decide to fuck this one? Are you fucking kidding me, Brady? You’re so fucking stupid!”

Normally when I yell at Brady, he looks down and turns red, but he was actually maintaining eye contact with me like he was going to own up to what he did.

“So you broke up with me so you could be free to have sex with this chick?” I asked, holding my phone in his face again.

“No.”

“Tell me exactly what happened.”

“I, uh… She came over one night…after the bar. And it just happened.”

“Did she spend the night?”

Brady looked confused like he didn’t know how to answer that.

“Did she fucking wake up here?” I rephrased.

“Uhh… Yeah.”

“Did you cuddle with her?”

“I can’t remember. No, I don’t think so.”

“Did you use a condom?”

“Of course I did.”

I thought about Jessica being at Brady’s house, in his room and in his bed. I thought about them kissing and whatever else they had to do to before actual intercourse. I thought about her huge tits. Ew. Ew.

“You’re fucking disgusting,” I said and shoved Brady as hard as I could. I expected him to stumble back and drop all of his things and for it all to be very dramatic, but he didn’t budge which pissed me off even more.

He didn’t say anything. He didn’t apologize or try to explain himself at all. He just looked at me.

“If you hooked up with anyone else, I wouldn’t care, but it had to be her. After everything that happened, why would you fucking have sex with her? Of course I would find out!” I screamed.

Brady rubbed his eye with the hand his keys were in and I smacked his keys down and they made a loud clatter as they hit the hard wood. “Say something, you coward.”

“What is there to say? It was incredibly stupid of me to let that happen with her,” Brady finally said.

“I hate you,” I stated and then I left. I stopped by Sephora on my way home and picked up a ton of makeup and perfume to make me feel better. When I got home I had a few texts from Brady.

“I’m sorry. I’m an idiot. This is all my fault and I deserved everything you said.”

“I’m not going to make excuses. It was stupid and selfish. I didn’t intend to hurt you.”

“I completely understand if you never want to talk to me or see me again but please don’t hate me.”

I rolled my eyes. Whatever. Every time he fucked up it was the same spiel. So I ignored him and went to the gym. Two hours later I checked my phone and found more texts.

“I’m sorry for letting that happen. I wasn’t thinking. I shouldn’t have done it and I should have told you right away.”

“I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I love you. I hope you know that.”

I didn’t ever respond to his texts, but I was up all night trying to figure out if I had any right to be mad or not. He said we were broken up when it happened so I guess I really can’t say anything. Especially since I hooked up with someone else too. Jessica though? That’s like a slap in the face. He knows how I feel about her. He had to have known I would find out. 

I woke up at around 5:30 and couldn’t go back to sleep so I decided to go see Brady before he went to work. I stopped and got donuts (mostly because I wanted one) then I let myself in.

“Hi,” I said loudly when I walked in. I found Brady walking out of his room into the hallway. He was already completely dressed for work and looked at me cautiously. “I brought donuts!”

“Oh. Thank you,” he said.

I walked to the kitchen and he followed me. As I pulled our donuts out of the bag, I said, “Glazed for you and chocolate sprinkles for me. Are you leaving soon?”

“Maybe in fifteen minutes or so. What are you doing up so early?” Brady asked.

As if he didn’t know I was up all night picturing him having sex with Jessica and wondering what positions they did. I shrugged. “I couldn’t stop thinking about donuts.”

Brady didn’t bring up last night and neither did I because I kind of wanted to forget about it and I kind of just wanted to see how long it would take him to man up and apologize to my face. When it was time for Brady to leave for work, I told him I was going to stay and finish getting ready at his place. He said okay and leaned in to hug and kiss me.

I pushed him away and said, “Don’t kiss me, I don’t know where your lips have been.”

I could tell this kind of hurt his feelings, but he quickly tried not to show it. He said, “Okay.”

So I don’t know. I know I can’t be mad or upset, but I am. I feel betrayed and gross. I think mostly I’m just pissed that Jessica sent me that picture and smiley basically rubbing in my face that they slept together. I guess I kind of asked for it, but still. It’s fucking embarrassing. And I feel like she showed me the picture because she saw how happy Brady and I look in my new profile picture. She obviously just wanted to stir up some drama and while I don’t want to let her do that, she did.

I don’t even know how I feel right now. I feel like Brady doesn’t value our relationship at all. And now I feel like I don’t even want to be with him anymore. But when I think of not being with him I get really sad and want to cry. Like, I miss him so much when I’m not with him. Even now after I found this out. And I don’t want Jessica to think that she can actually break us. I kind of wish I would have never gotten in a relationship. This blows.

Brady and I both had Friday off from work so we slept in then I went to my apartment to prepare for my parents’ arrival. Their flight was getting in on Friday around noon and I planned on taking them to a nice lunch. My mom informed me that they landed and were picking up their rental car then said that my dad wanted to stop at a vintage store near the airport then told me that she’d bought an end table, drapes, two chairs and a large piece of artwork from the vintage store and asked if I had any recommendations for how she could get it home to Houston? Only my mother.

I got dressed and continued waiting. My mom said they were going to grab a quick bite to eat and have a drink then they would be over. I didn’t hear from her for two and a half hours so I called her. She answered the phone and it was obvious she was drunk.

“I’m sorry, babe. Your dad is tired so we are going to go to the hotel and rest. Can we meet up with you in the morning?” she said.

Ugh. Are you kidding? I said sure and hung up then called Brady to tell him what happened. He suggested we get dinner on our own so I put on a dress and heels and waited to be picked up. We ended up going to a restaurant with a patio and eating our food outside. Naturally we got drinks to go with dinner and continued drinking after we finished eating. Once we were good and tipsy we walked down the street to a bar. I honestly can’t remember much, but from my Snapchat story I gathered that we danced a lot, made tons of friends and ordered nachos. I also remember meeting a group of girls and Brady buying a double shot of tequila for all of us. Thanks boo!

My mom finally called to hang out on Saturday morning. I was hungover and in Brady’s bed and she insisted they come over even though I told her I could meet up with them somewhere else. I think she just wanted to see his place because she’s nosy. I asked Brady to make me something to cure my hangover then showered and put on high rise shorts and crop top. My mom kept calling for directions because they kept getting lost, but she couldn’t tell me where she was. I’m like, “Mom, what are the cross streets?” and she’s like, “I don’t know, I see trees and a stop sign.”

Thanks. So helpful. And when they did finally find it, it took them fifteen minutes to find parking. I met my parents at the gate and my mom squealed when she saw me.

“This is so cute! It’s so Manhattan!” she said.

We hugged then I led them inside.

“Bradyyyy,” my mom called out and I said, “Mom,” irritably.

Bae appeared and my mother said, “Brady, I love what you’ve done with the place. A little minimalistic for my taste, but it’s really nice. You should put a piece of artwork here.”

“Thank you,” Brady said and my mom pulled him into a hug.

And then she demanded a tour. Basically she wanted to give him tips about how to decorate and make suggestions for things he needed to buy. She even said, “Reese hun, I can’t believe his home is this bare when you work in your industry.” I looked at my dad and rolled my eyes.

After the tour, we poured wine and sat on the patio. My mom was dominating the conversation as usual and eventually asked what kind of alcohol we had on hand. So I took her inside to our fully stocked bar so we could make drinks. She put some ice in a glass, filled it about 3/4 of the way up with vodka then splashed about a shot of orange juice in. She made another for my dad. I made Brady and me tequila spritzers then we took everything back out to the patio.

Soon, we were all pretty drunk and my mom was sitting on my dad’s lap demanding I take pictures of them for Snapchat. We decided to call an Uber to take us to this touristy bar my parents wanted to go to. It’s one of the only bars my mom has been to in Chicago so she likes to name drop and pretend she knows the city.

At first I wasn’t going to drink much so I could keep an eye on my mom, but then I realized that my dad had it under control and ordered a margarita pitcher. And Patron shots. It was actually really fun because my dad and Brady are besties and teased me and my mom a lot. I feel like my dad brings out a really playful side of Brady that I hardly see. He’s so serious sometimes and my dad really isn’t. We ordered a pizza at the bar and naturally I scarfed down three slices. It was actually really disgusting, but I was too drunk to care.

We went back to Brady’s when we left the bar. It was going to get dark soon and we wanted to watch the fireworks from the patio. I was starting to think the bartender gave me some sort of fake, cheap Patron because my tummy was doing flips the entire way home. Patron never makes me sick. As soon as we got inside I went to the bathroom and started puking. Like, I didn’t even make it to the toilet.

I’m not exactly sure how long I spent wrapped around the toilet, but I kept passing out and waking up to throw up some more. It was so revolting. And all the garlic and pepper and shit from the pizza hurt coming back up. When I finally felt like I’d puked everything I could, I got up and found my bag and phone on Brady’s bed. He had texted me twice. One said, “My parents are here,” and the other said, “Will you please come out here?”

It took me about ten seconds to realize that Brady meant his parents were currently where we were, at his duplex, where my parents also were. Wait. Fuck! Without thinking, I opened the door and ran down the hallway. I didn’t check my face and hair in the mirror, brush my nasty barf teeth or put on something instead of my crop top and shorts so I was a mess. I followed the sound of voices to the area between the living room and kitchen where Brady, my parents and his parents were standing. I heard my mom saying something about how she “loves that city” when everyone turned to look at me. I immediately looked down avoiding eye contact and waited for them to continue their conversation.

After a moment of silence, they realized that I wasn’t going to say anything so my mom continued talking, raving about the food in a city I didn’t hear the name of. I snuck a look at Brady and he was looking at me like he was concerned. I shrugged and frowned hoping clueless Brady would understand that it meant I felt like shit and needed all the parents, especially his, to leave.

“Hmm. And how are you?” Brady’s mom asked me after my mom said a whole paragraph without pausing to breathe.

I realized how rude I’d been by not even saying hello when I walked in. “Hi. I’m sorry. I’m not feeling well. We had this awful pizza. How are you?”

Brady’s mom looked at Brady and her husband then back at me. “We’re doing fine.” I noticed her glance down at my chest and clasped my hands in front of me self consciously.

“Reese and Brady took us to one of my favorite bars while we’re in town. I wish we would have known y’all we were here!” my mom exclaimed.

Can you imagine Brady’s parents taking shots at the bar with us? I can’t and don’t want to.

“Oh, really?” Brady’s mom said back looking unimpressed.

“I just love hanging out with them. Brady is always so nice and polite when I see him. You raised him right,” Mom continued. Please note that this was only the second time she’s met him.

“We appreciate that, Jackie,” Brady’s dad said. “We are certainly proud of him. Did he tell you that he’s getting sent to Africa for two months to help with vaccinations?”

I was too busy wanting the whole encounter to be over to realize the magnitude of what Brady’s dad said.

“Oh! Africa!” my mom said.

“That’s commendable,” my dad piped up. “Reese, why don’t you go along with him and make yourself useful?” He laughed and no one laughed with him.

“It sounds dangerous, but I think it’ll be a great learning experience,” Brady’s mom said, sounding bitter.

“I always told Reese she should go into the medical field. She’s so smart. But she’s so creative. She needed to put that creativity to use,” my mom said. I can’t remember one time she suggested I go into the medical field, but I wasn’t about to say that.

“Oh,” Brady’s mom said and gave me the once over. Obviously I couldn’t be taken seriously as a doctor in my attire. “And what is it that you do?”

My mom looked caught off guard. “I have a masters degree in psychology. I’m a licensed therapist.”

“Really?” Brady’s mom said sounding completely shocked. “Where did you study?”

My mom told her the name of her alma mater and Brady’s mom shook her head. “I’ve not heard of it.”

We all stood there for a moment then Brady’s dad said, “It was great meeting you two and seeing you again, Reese. We have a bit of a drive to make to get back to the hotel.” He shook my parents’ hands then I saw Brady’s mom give Brady a stern look.

“I’ll walk you guys out,” he said and the three of them walked toward the door.

“She’s nicer than I expected,” my mom said. “You made her sound like a raging bitch.”

“She isn’t nice at all,” I replied, dumbfounded. “She thinks I’m an idiot.”

“Well, if you want her to be your mother in law one day then you better try harder. Compliment and schmooze her more. She just needs to be buttered up.”

My dad said, “How do you feel about your boy going to Africa for two months?”

“I don’t really care,” I answered immediately even though I obviously do care. I thought about Brady not telling me such an important thing and the way his mom was looking at me like I’m some sort of trollop and I felt a wave of tears coming on. “I’ll be right back.”

I walked back to Brady’s bathroom, took one look at myself in the mirror and started bawling. I had dark rings under my eyes from my mascara and my hair looked like I just had a sex marathon and Brady’s parents had seen me like that. I was so upset. I laid on top of the white bedding and cried. A little while later I heard the door open and Brady say, “What’s wrong with you?”

I didn’t reply and felt him sit on the bed.

“What’s wrong, Reese?” he asked again sounding exasperated.

“Why didn’t you tell me you’re going to Africa?” I sobbed.

“I’m not going!” he yelled.

“Why did your parents say you were?” I sniffled.

“Because they think I am. I turned the opportunity down, but I didn’t tell them. Calm down.”

“What did they say about me?”

“Nothing.”

“Yes they did! Your mom hates me. And she probably hates my mom now too!”

“No she doesn’t,” Brady said, standing up to leave. “Please get up. Your parents are out here waiting for you.”

A few minutes after Brady left I got up and brushed my teeth and washed my face then changed into a t-shirt and shorts. My parents were ready to retire back to their hotel so we said our goodbyes. They were leaving early Sunday morning so we promised to visit them soon.

After my parents left we had really amazing sex. (And by the way, thanks for all the birth control advice. I’m going to try to get an appointment with my doctor as soon as possible because I completely stopped taking mine.) Afterwards, we laid in bed and Brady tried to cuddle me, but I decided we were going to pillow talk instead.

“Why doesn’t your mom like me?” I asked.

“She does like you,” Brady replied automatically. His eyes were closed and he didn’t open them to talk to me.

“No she doesn’t. Do you see the way she looks at me? She obviously thinks I’m a thot,” I said.

“A what?”

“A thot. She thinks I’m some Obama loving bimbo.”

Brady was silent for so long that when he sighed I knew some sort of truth was about to come out.

“I think she’s just curious about what we have in common. I don’t think she really gets you.”

“Obviously she doesn’t get me. No one does.” I felt some more tears coming on. But it really did make me think – do Brady and I have anything in common besides liking to drink and having sex with each other?

“I get you. I don’t care if they do or not,” Brady said, pulling me close and I finally let him cuddle me again.

I woke up on Sunday morning and took the longest shower of my life. After I got out I woke Brady up and asked to go to breakfast. We went to a restaurant downtown and I ordered about half the entire menu. I was starving.

While we waited I said, “I can’t believe you didn’t mention anything about Africa to me.”

“I’m not going to Africa. Why would I?” Brady said.

“Because your parents think you are and I was caught off guard when they brought it up. I feel like you just never tell me anything.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to keep anything from you, but since I decided not to go, I didn’t see any reason to tell you.”

“Maybe because I’m your bae and you’re supposed to tell me everything.”

“Okay.”

After breakfast I suggested we go to the pool at my apartment even though I had eaten over half my body weight. We laid out for a few hours then went to my apartment and napped because we are bums. I woke up to Brady grabbing my butt which is a great way to wake up. He flipped me over and ate me out for a little while until I got on top.

“Ahh, Reese,” he moaned because obviously it felt amazing. “Will you marry me?”

“Stop saying that,” I said sternly because I’m sick of him getting my hopes up and then him chickening out. But usually when Brady asks me to marry him or something, he’s drunk or high but he wasn’t under the influence of anything. Except my… Never mind.

“Okay.”

Immediately after we had sex, Brady got dressed and said he was going home. I nodded and told him to have a good rest of the day and he said okay. I wanted him to tell me to come with him because we are inseparable and he didn’t want me out of his sight, but that didn’t happen.

So I just cleaned and did work all night. I missed Brady even though it had only been hours since we saw each other. We spend like all of our free time together so I just felt weird that I was home hanging out by myself. Like it kind of hurt which is really scary because I don’t want to be that obsessed with him and attached to him.

We didn’t talk for the rest of Sunday, but when I woke up this morning (Monday) he had texted me telling me to have a good day off. I wonder if he’s annoyed at me for telling him not to ask me to marry him. I don’t think he has any right to be though because he’s the one who always pretends it never happened.

How was everyone else’s weekend? Tell me you got drunk and hung out with your boyfriend’s parents in a crop top and booty shorts too so I feel better?