Shortly after Wendy moved in with John, Julia found her a project to occupy her time. She was going to “fix” these two. According to Julia, they were broken, and she considered herself the local expert.
This neatly ignored the fact that none of Julia’s recent relationships had been extremely well-grounded in communication, emotions, or even sanity.
I also got the distinct impression that Julia wanted Wendy for herself, as Wendy had recently decided she was also bi. A perfect fit for Julia, except for that whole boyfriend living with her thing.
If John and Wendy had been given time to grow into their relationship, things might have turned out differently, but both of them lacked any real experience in dating and holding down a relationship built to last. Add into the fact that now Julia had her manipulator’s sights set on these two poor bastards, and you can see where things might go awry.
I’m sure that both John and Wendy felt that the concept of the two of them being together, two souls standing against the trials of this world, was romantic and noble, but nobility far too often fails in a world of vice and destruction. It’s quite a desperate scenario to watch, and it happens all the time.
They failed to remember the first tenet of relationships: When two imperfect people try to have one perfect relationship, the result is far worse than if they realized how imperfect it was going to be from the very beginning.
A month or so into this, and John began to display some frightening characteristics, particularly the fact that his head was in the clouds and he couldn’t see what was happening down below. Sadly, he was feeling great about being in love and living with this girl, and not about trying to make the relationship grow. Wendy, on the other hand, slowly began exhibiting signs of wanting to take off running again, like a professional marathon runner who’s been cooped up at home for a few months.
One particular evening stands out in my mind, with both John, Wendy, John’s best friend, and myself hanging out on the stairwell. John was slipping Wendy sips of (adult) beverage, and Wendy, who must have weighed like, 50 pounds, was getting far too giggly for her own good. When she started flirting with me, and John’s best friend, and the railing of the stairs, and basically anything, animate or otherwise, except for her current boyfriend, I got the sam-hell out of there. Already, the gulfs of derision between them had begun to open up, revealing a potential chasm far too wide for my comfort, and it wasn’t even my relationship.
The situation exploded when Wendy realized that she was no longer in a comfortable situation and ran. Like hell. To the nearest person who would make her feel like not running for a while.
James, the Player, had been playing, and Wendy had run right into his game.
The night they slept together was bad enough, as John was frantic trying to find out where the hell she was. She wasn’t answering her cell phone, her car was still parked outside, and he was about to completely lose it.
The next few nights were worse, when Wendy decided to run again, seeking someone new, and slightly less ass-holish. Julia had finally moved the chess pieces correctly, and Kristen, Julia, and Wendy in one single-bedroom apartment makes for a very crowded and awkward situation.
Things would have continued on like this for a while, with John and James both alternately pissed and bawling their heads off, but nooooo… I couldn’t leave well enough alone.
So, I did what I (foolishly) thought was best, and all of us congregated together outside at the stairwell to work out our problems.
And by work out our problems, I mean scream at each other, argue, cry, and stomp off in a huff, only to be stopped a few steps later by some comment and return to the situation to add to the choral cacophony of craziness. Rinse, Lather, Repeat.
This went on for a good hour, with everybody, except myself and Wendy, pulling this exact same routine. It was like clockwork, and had the best social dynamics researchers been there, they would have been scratching their heads and pulling on their mustaches.
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