To cheat or not to cheat?

Posted by Mel on Apr 30, 2008 in EX-ploitation | 1 comment

Things don't get more "Pursuit of Your Boyfriend" than this… eh, unless it's Pursuit of Your Husband, I suppose.

A story about cheating was provoked by Monday night's episode of "How I Met Your Mother." (BROS BEFORE HOES!) I told my boyfriend about a cheating incident in which I'm truly embarrassed about — a stupid mistake made OVER TEN YEARS ago that completely changed my thought process about the importance of friendships and relationships. Short story, I fucked around with a friend's fiance… and no, it wasn't limited to "just one fuck-up." It may have started with a drunken mistake, but the fling continued on a similarly sloppy course. My own relationship at the time was complete hell with already multiple instances (read: evidence) of cheating from his end. At the time, he truly broke my heart beyond repair, and I just didn't have an emotional regard to anyone, including myself.

Somewhere in that story, I cannot remember how it all came unraveled — I'm sure there is a subconscious act of repressing that exact episode. There were nasty phone calls and public displays of humiliation and an LP named after me ("Four Year Tramp" with my mug inspiring all the cover art and liner notes). But what I remember most is losing my long-term on-again-off-again boyfriend (who really cared?), the "new guy" who told me he loved me through phone sex (seriously, puke. no excuse) and almost every single one of my friends, all at once.

Years and many letters of apologies passed, and the friend and I slowly rekindled something resembling a fake friendship. She finally met a man that was fantastic and we all seemed to have moved past all the early-twenties bullshit. Of course, once they were engaged, I never heard from them again, but I do know they are still married today. I like to think I helped her make a better decision with her choice of man in which to settle down, but I wish it could have been under different circumstances.

Lesson learned to never, ever, ever, EVER go near a friend's husband/boyfriend… unless we're all drunk together and I'm invited to join.