Getting to grips with single life isn't always that easy. Here's one twenty-something's day-to-day narrative of his relationship breakup and his life since.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Moving?
Work are doing a lot of moving stuff at the moment. Last week, my boss took me to one side, and we had a conversation much like this:
Boss: You're single, aren't you Tim? Me: (looks shiftily at boss, who currently sports Armani glasses, sharp suit, and Toni&Guy haircut) errr....yes? Boss: And you rent your house? Me: Yeeees..... Boss: How d'you fancy moving to Gibraltar? Me: ......... Boss: We're going to need someone out there when we move all this gear, so we want someone permanently based there. Have a think about it and let me know.
So...I could be living in a British territory, just off the Costa del Sol. The downside is, I'd be leaving everything I own behind, and basically starting fresh. It's a big gamble. The upside is, I'd be living in a much better climate, and if I could somehow get word back to my ex before I left, her reaction would be pure gold.
It's been a while, what with moving and everything else, but finally, an update!
Amanda. No longer interested. Yes, she's amazing in bed, but after our last meeting, we agreed to go out. I met her from work, and she left a change of clothes there for the next day, saying "I'm not even going to ask if I'm staying at yours tonight - it's pretty much a given, isn't it?" Sounds good so far. We went to Jaks - she had no money, so I paid and bought her drinks. She was being friendly with my mates, but not so much with me - in fact, when I put my arm around her once, she pulled away.
About half an hour in, she starts chatting with this group of lads. She's blatantly interested, but seems confused. We go outside so she can have a smoke (thanks, smoking ban), and the first words out of her mouth are "We need to get you laid tonight", which pretty much says it all.
I just said "Look, you've clearly pulled, so just go with it if that's what you want." About 10 minutes later I went to the toilets, and when I got back, I saw her with her tongue down this guys throat. I just left them to it.
Now don't get me wrong. Amanda made it clear that she was single, and that we were just fuck buddies. Although I think we've got potential to be more, I'm fine with that. What I'm not fine with is going out with someone, and then purposely ditching that person to go with someone else. Fuck buddy or just a friend, if you're out as just the two of you, common courtesy says you don't just ditch that person.
More importantly though, Amanda made one thing very clear that night: I'm always going to be her second best - the one she comes to when either her current boyfriend has dumped her, or just when she can't find anyone else and feels horny. I'm fine with that concept, apart from two things: I like her, and this has potential to get dangerous and painful; and although I don't mind being a fallback shag for when she's been out with other people and hasn't pulled, I draw the line at coming second to a stranger when it's me she's out with.
I think every relationship should have an 'our song.' Granted, Amanda and me have never had a proper relationship, but this has been going on and off pretty much since I broke up with Tracy, so I think it's deserving of it's own song. And here it is:
When I first took this house on, the landlady told me the house had been lucky for the last tenant. In fact, I spoke to the last tenant, and he made a point of telling me it was lucky too.
So far, it's not too far off the mark. First, getting my deposit back of Space 4 Living.
Second, I did a check on Sky's website last night, and my exchange has now been enabled for their £26 a month deal, so I've got the full package that I wanted again now. Lovely.
The icing on the cake came last night. Amanda called. She's broke up with her boyfriend. I mentioned that I'd moved, and she asked if she could come and visit.
For some reason, whenever me and Amanda are together, we invariably end up in bed together. Last night, we did ever so well - we lasted until about 45 minutes before she had to leave before we jumped on each other. I'm not sure what it is about us, we just seem to 'fit' in bed together. Of all the girls I've met since Tracy, she's definitely the one with the most potential.
There's just one *tiny* thing. No, not that.
My first proper girlfriend was Sam. She worked in McDonalds. We met, got engaged, she claimed to have fucked Rob, I didn't believe her, we broke up.
My second proper girlfriend was Tracy. She worked in McDonalds. We met, got engaged, she claimed not to have fucked Rob, I believed her, we broke up, she turned out to have been telling the truth.
When I met Amanda back in October, she was a care nurse, with qualifications in hairdressing. Now, she works in Subway.
I appear to be consistently attracted to girls who work in the food service industry. Is fate trying to tell me something?
Still, there's always an upside. At least if I always end up with fast food girls, I know where to go on the pull.
Saturday morning, I had a cheque through the door. The full amount of my deposit from S4L. No cover letter, no "we think we're in the right but can't be arsed to fight it" note, just a compliments slip with "Re: Deposit" scrawled on.
I had a feeling they'd give up when they figured I wasn't going to take it lying down.
So. That's Phase 1: Recovery, complete. Now for Phase 2: Education. This is the bit where Trading Standards, NAEA, ARLA and NALS get a complaint from me. Oh, and also HMRC, since they charged me VAT on my own money, and I have no doubt they would have argued that they didn't have to repay that either if they thought they could get away with it.
Why am I doing this, when I have, after all, got my money back? Simple. I know my rights. The next person they try this with might not be so savvy.
