Seeing the Signs of a Cheater and a Cheapskate

I don't know if I'm an expert at spotting the signs.  Ignoring the signs?  Yeah.  I think I did a good job at that.  I can tell when someone is lying to me or has something going on that they're hiding.  

I take back what I said about college ex.  He really was bad when I think about it. I think because it was college and we were immature that it wouldn't be horrible to see him.  I think I'd still call him a bad word.  Or throw something.  

I did see the signs but I was hoping it wasn't what I thought it was.  The first sign was a trip to Great America with our friend Norah and her boyfriend Joe.  Norah worked with us at Target and Norah did try to fix me up with a friend before I started dating college boyfriend. What did I call him before?  We'll call him George. I don't like George Clooney so George seems to fit this idiot.

Joe couldn't make it the day we were going to go but George thought it would be ok with Norah coming along.  First flag right there.  Three's a crowd and I would become the crowd.  

Anyway, I had finally worked up my fear of roller coasters and was psyched to go on them with my boyfriend.  This was supposed to be my first summer with a boyfriend and I was looking forward to it.  Norah was fearful of roller coasters and didn't want to go on and started sobbing.  I felt bad for her but I also got kind of worried when George wrapped his arms around her and held her for the longest time.  I thought well, I get it. I was afraid when my dad would take me and sat on the side.  

We went about our day and we had fun for the most part.  I did kind of feel like something wasn't right with the chumminess I was witnessing.  It was when he dropped Norah off that it set off some red flags. I thought this is too long.  My parents were gone for the weekend so I thought it would be the two of us finishing up the leftovers from Pizza Man and watching movies.  He came over and told me he was tired.  He went home.  I didn't think much of it but I thought this day ended sucky.

I didn't really hear from him until that Wednesday. We had different schedules and it seemed like he just didn't happen to be at home.  He took me to Humboldt Park and broke up with me.  Just didn't think we were compatible.  I was crushed.  He said you're not the type of girl I want to marry.

Marry?  I wasn't thinking of that but that was some insulting shit right there.  I was devastated and my summer was over.  

What do you know, Norah's boyfriend Joe came over that following Saturday and asked me if I wanted to go for a ride.  He told me that he and Norah broke up and she's with George.  Not shocked.  Why didn't I see that coming?  Why didn't I ask?  

I saw the signs.  They actually came up to me holding hands asking me if I wanted to still go to the Heart concert with them.

I'm going to say this and I'm going to curse.  What the fuck was wrong with them?  I was supposed to go see Heart.  Not Norah.  As much as I love Heart, there was no way in hell I was going to sit through a concert and watch them make up while I listened to Barracuda.  I still feel a pain ping anytime I see Heart is in town.  Thank god his older brother ruined their good time.  

You know, I took him back and I watched the flirting he did with other women.  Right in front of me.  Nobody ever really looked at him until I showed interest.  I'm not all that by any means but whatever I had made others say If she thinks he's interesting, then maybe he is?  

The guys that worked with us at Target all had my back except for one guy.  I was surprised who stuck up for me when it happened.  

The second time it happened was more subtle.  Technically we weren't going to see each other as much because he was graduating.  We did see each other a few times his last semester. I remember walking into Target that December to say hello and I saw him talking to someone that made me raise an eyebrow.  I liked this girl.  She was always nice to me but I noticed how he looked at her and that raised a flag.  

So yeah, it took me giving him a Christmas gift that he wound up ditching me.  I called him over to return some tapes and ask if we were done.  We were.  

I found out that someone didn't have my back.  My friend Margo told me she knew about George and Felicity.  She said they were going to Mexico together with Felicity's family during spring break.  Sigh.  Of course.  He was cheap and she had money.  

He told me that he had to save money for graduate school so for several months, I was footing the bill for a lot of things and he would show me the 10 CDs that he bought at the music store.

I was working at Kohls before we were finally done.  He wanted me to buy a nice pair of slacks for him with my discount.  He bought me a video game.

I never took too well at the office when it came to office flirtations I would witness.  Irma was good with that.  I would glare at Barry when Irma would start with him.  I just find it so gross when people do that.  Just not ok with me. 

Do I think Harold ever cheated on me?  Yes.  I wouldn't be surprised if he was in the Epstein files at this point.