Julian sneered at me. “Seriously? You’d rather spend your whole Saturday hanging out in that crummy basement with your… your weirdo friends.” The way his voice tightened with each word, I could tell it took a lot for him not to call them worse. “Playing a stupid role playing game?”
Than be with my boyfriend? With the way he was treating me right now, uhhh, yeah. I think I’d made the right choice.
“Calm down, Jules,” I said, trying to be soothing. “This isn’t, like, new.”
In fact, I’d been spending my Saturdays playing Vampire: the Masquerade with Austin and Sarah and the rest since sixth grade, when Sarah’s mom let her have an RPG birthday party at the local gaming store, complete with an adorkable high school Game Master to run the story. Since then, I’d been hooked. And no boyfriend, no matter how swoon-worthy, was going to come between me, my coterie, and clearing out the vampire hunter problem in our imaginary New York!
Julian sighed, dramatically. “But it’s just that we’re in a big Ion Assault tournament Saturday and I want you to be there. I want my girl with me when my clan destroys the Mother Ship.”
“Oookay,” I said, getting irritated. “But me and my clan are defending the Prince’s domain. I have a shot at being the Scourge if I clear out these hunters. Jules… they have True Faith. You know what Sarah and Austin are up against. I can’t just abandon them! Besides, I wouldn’t even be playing anything if I just sat there watching you on your video game.”
How could he not get that?
“I see how it is,” he said, turning away from me, being a major grump. “Once again, it’s them over me. It’s really getting old, Brandi.”
I scoffed, completely dumbfounded. Which was apparently the wrong thing to do.
Julian whipped his head around and glared daggers. He stood up and started gathering his jacket and shoes, all the while ranting and raving.
“It really sucks to have a girlfriend I can never depend on,” he said. “Why don’t you just spend every Saturday with your idiot friends and forget we ever happened? We’re through!”
The silence after the door slapped shut behind him was deafening.
Well… that had escalated quickly.
I sat completely still, shock coursing through my body as I realized that, once again, my boyfriend was breaking up with me. I was too stunned to be angry yet. Or maybe too numb.
Why was Julian making such a big deal out of this? It didn’t even make sense. We had met through the tabletop game, when Sarah invited all the neighborhood kids to her birthday. Julian had only stopped coming to game over the summer. He’d been busy with scout camp. And helping his dad at the farm stand… And… volunteering with his sister at the animal shelter…
Or so he’d said. Maybe that had all been excuses?
I couldn’t believe this was happening. Julian and I had been a couple since seventh grade. We’d just started freshmen year. Sure, we’d been on and off before, but I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like if he really dumped me. We were a pair! We had plans to get married after graduation. Then there were going to two kids, a boy and then a girl.
Julian was the love of my life.
I laughed, feeling a little ridiculous. Julian hadn’t really meant it. Clearly! He was over-reacting, that’s all. It wouldn’t be the fit time a fit of anger had him saying things he didn’t mean.
Lately it did seem we were fighting all the time. I just couldn’t do anything right in Julian’s eyes. He complained a lot about my game time, that I ordered the wrong pizza toppings, that all my skull t-shirts and combat boots were unflattering, that he got a headache when I wore the fancy perfume my sister bought for my birthday. If I added it all up, it really looked like Julian had started to hate what made me me.
Maybe if I gave him time to calm down, he’d get over it and we could get back to normal.
On Sunday, after spending Saturday totally wrecking that group of hunters and earning the Prince’s respect, Austin—with his brand new license—gave me a ride to the grocery store and then to the pizza place. I picked up Julian’s and my favorite subs, some root beer, and vanilla ice cream for floats. Then Austin dropped me back in my neighborhood, the next road over from my house, at Julian’s.
When Julian answered the door, I held out the brown bag of subs and plastic grocery bag of dessert. I gave my best puppy-dog-eyes before he smiled and wrapped his arms around me. Did I know my guy, or what?
I went inside with Julian, hand in hand. His little brother, Ricky, came barreling down the stairs, screaming like a banshee and nearly knocked me over with a bear hug to the knees. I sometimes babysat for him, when Julian wasn’t able to. It never bothered me to play pretend as pirates or help him build his LEGO spaceships. For that, he thought I was pretty cool. You know, for a girl.
Julian bribed Ricky with Oreos to get him to play in his room. Which was good, because that meant we had a few minutes of alone time before their parents came home. I was happy to cuddle on the living room sofa with my boy. After all, the best part of fighting was always making up. We kissed so much, I swear, my lips were still tingling when I got back home for dinner.
Of course, it was only two days before another battle broke out. This time, Julian got mad during lunch when I gave my brownie to Austin instead of offering it to him first. He was so furious over something so petty! When he started ranting about my ‘loser friends’, I’d had enough.
I stood up, facing him across the table. “Jules, you obviously can’t stand the sight of me. To be honest, I can’t stand the sight of you either.”
Julian’s jaw dropped. His baby blue eyes were wide with shock and outrage. He sneered. “Whatever, Brandi. It was fun in middle school, but I’m done dating someone that won’t grow up. Later, losers.”
With that, he grabbed his bag and marched off. Just as he reached the cafeteria doors, Julian turned back. He spat, “And this time, we’re never, ever, ever getting back together!”
I stared after him a moment, disgusted at his drama. My fellow gamer friend, Sarah, piped up with an announcer’s voice, saying, “Ladies and gentlemen, Taylor Swift has left the building.”
Austin laughed with Sarah, but I just glared after Julian.
The next few weeks were super busy. Whenever I wasn’t studying for the first semester exams, I was hanging with Sarah and Austin, plotting out what our coterie was going to do to get more respect in the vampire city.
I missed Julian, though. I’d passed him in the hallway at school a few times, and he acted like he didn’t even see me.
One Friday in December, my parents dropped Sarah and me at the mall. We weren’t really paying much attention to our surroundings as we tried to figure out our next power play for Saturday’s role-playing game. We were trying to figure out how we could take out one of the elder vampires and move Austin’s character into a leadership position when I literally ran into Julian.
My breath hitched as I stared. And Julian? He just stared right back. Then I heard someone say, “Come on, Jules. Let’s see if GameBreak has some good used games.”
A girl reached out and took his hand. They walked away together. Holding hands.
Sarah nudged me and said, “Hey, just walk away.”
I turned around in a daze, disappearing into the crowded mall. I almost made it to the bathroom door when the swirling thoughts and raging emotions suddenly burst free. Overwhelmed with anger, I turned swiftly and punched the cement wall.
Right in front of a mother and her two kids. The little boy started to cry immediately.
The mother gawked. “Do you really think that’s an appropriate way to behave? There are children here!”
I laughed. At that moment, in no world did I care about that lady’s kids!
She started to tell me to wait right there, and that she was getting security, when I felt someone grab my arm.
“Whoa!” Sarah’s hands wrapped around my waist as she pulled me away. “Don’t mind my friend! She’s just a little crazy! Ex-boyfriend trouble… you know how it goes. Right? Ha ha, okay, thanks for your concern!”
She helped me dip and weave through the crowd. Finally, we plopped down at a table in the food court.
Sarah hissed, “What is your problem?”
“I just couldn’t believe Julian was walking around holding hands with some girl. They went into GameBreak. She likes video games, Sarah! She’s pretty, too.”
Sarah groaned and held her face in her palm. “You should hear yourself, dude!”
“Whatever…. Julian and I were going to get married after high school. Now I’m going to be alone forever.”
Sarah reached over and touched my arm. She spoke in a fond but exasperated tone. “Listen, breaking up with your boyfriend is not the end of the world. You and Julian aren’t Romeo and Juliet. You’re not even Edward and Bella. Those are just stories, anyway. In the real world, people fall in love with more than one person in a lifetime. Your first love is not going to be your last. That’s just the way it is. There’s no reason to act like an idiot and punch a wall just because your ex is moving on!”
I rolled my eyes and turned away.
“Hey! Listen up, girl! I know what I’m talking about. It’s normal to break up and find someone else at our age. That’s how life works. Forget all the bullcrap, and just move on. Be polite to Julian when you run into him, but quit thinking of him as your one true love. You’re being all dramatic.”
I sighed. I knew Sarah was right.
“What was that?”
“I said you’re right.”
“Darn tootin’ I am,” Sarah said, grinning. She was such a goofball. “Now come on. Let’s go hit the food court. You promised me ice cream.”
We were standing in line at the Dairy Queen, deciding between large or enormous amounts of ice cream, when my cell vibrated in my pocket. I couldn’t believe it when I saw Julian’s name—I so regretted not taking him out of my Contacts when we first broke up.
I showed Sarah and then answered, annoyed. “What do you want, Julian?”
“Brandi? Oh, thank God!” Julian’s frantic voice came through loud and clear. “You have to help me. It’s Ricky! I don’t know what to do!”
“What? Why are you calling me about Ricky?” I shared a look with Sarah, who shrugged but looked concerned.
“He was here Christmas shopping with me and Piper. We’d gone into GameBreak and I thought he’d been with us when I ran into you… But one minute he was right behind me and the next he just disappeared!” Julian was definitely in full panic mode. “Piper ran off to find a security guard. Are you still at the mall? Can you help me look for him? You know how much he loves you. Oh, my God! I don’t know what to do!”
“Calm down, Jules. Sarah and I are in the food court. Just hold tight. I’ll be right there.”
On our way back to GameBreak, I explained the situation to Sarah. As I did, I realized only one place could entranced Ricky every time he walked by it … and it was very close to the video game store.
I had Sarah stop to let Julian know where I was going. I rushed past him and into Toy Town, heading directly to the LEGO section at the back of the store.
And there was Ricky, mesmerized by a mammoth starship display.
When Ricky noticed me, he happily called out, “Brandi! Come see the new Battlestar LEGO set!”
He was oblivious to all the stress he’d put his brother through, and—since it turned out he was okay—I was all right with that.
Ricky and I chatted for a minute until Sarah and Julian showed up. Julian scolded Ricky, telling him never to wander off like that again, that he had been really worried.
When Piper showed up, saying she’d gotten Julian’s text, I said my goodbyes to Ricky and turned to leave.
Julian set a hand on my shoulder. “Thanks, Brandi. I mean it.”
“No problem, Jules. I’m always here for my friends,” I said with a smile, and a wink to Ricky. Sarah joined me and we kept walking.
“Hey,” Sarah said when we were far enough away. “You all right?”
I thought about it for a minute. Was I?
“You know what? I’m fine. I know he’s got a new girlfriend now. Even if he didn’t, I think we were done a long time ago. But we didn’t know how to let go. Like you said, it’s not the end of the world.” I said, “Now, if I’m not mistaken, I think I owe you some ice cream. And we should get back to planning for tomorrow’s game.”
Sarah grinned and said, “Finally! You know I can’t plot a good take-over without something sweet!”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Cathy Jones lives on the Crystal Coast of North Carolina. She loves the beach, reading every type of book ever written, inventing delicious recipes, and making up tall tales.