I am the type of person who gets easily bored. This causes problems in relationships - not so much for me, but for the men I date. I seem to have a tolerance limit of two years, and Brian and I have been dating for two and a half.
Well, in theory. Really, the relationship has been over for a rather long time, but sharing an apartment together in the young, hip (read: expensive) part of town, we simply haven't gotten to the point of him actually moving out yet. That's coming soon. The lease will be up in a month. I know it's going to be difficult because everybody knows everybody else in this area of the city. Which means we have a number of mutual friends and it's only a matter of time before Brian finds out what I've done.
Like I said, the relationship has been over for some time. We haven't been intimate in seven months, and now that it's summertime I find myself getting hot in ways that have nothing to do with the July heat.
One evening, I was in a neighborhood pub lamenting this fact to Marc, one of our mutual friends. He had been Brian's roommate when Brian and I first began dating, so I'd known him for some time and was comfortable discussing details of that nature with him. God knows how many times I had to hear him tell me stories of his ex (what a bitch she was!). As Marc sat sipping his usual gin-and-tonics and I downed yet another bottle of ale, we agreed that my relationship with Brian was, in fact, over and there was nothing to do but convince Brian to leave.
We sat quietly for a few moments. I peeled at the label on the bottle and Marc played with his straw, causing the ice to clink against the glass. He placed the glass on the table and stared at me. "What?" I demanded.
"Can I ask you something?"
I got an uneasy feeling that I knew what it was going to be. I had begun to realize some time ago that Marc was developing a crush on me. I began to scrutinize the label. "No," I said, "you can't."
"All right, then," said Marc, and with that the awkward moment passed.