122) That Girl/Guy

Yesterday I spent the day with a good friend who is also an ex-boyfriend (not pictured above). We talked about a lot of things, and at one point, I lamented that I'd never gotten to meet his longtime and now ex-girlfriend from college. He laughed and reminisced about how much she hated my guts.

Now, I wasn't expecting her to be my number one fan, but even though we never met, (edit: Turns out, we did meet once. And by meet, I mean we attended the same New Years party and awkwardly avoided eye contact all night.) she built me up to be this horrible person in her mind.

I get it. I've been on both ends. We've all had a significant other with a close friend of the opposite sex who may or may not also be an ex. That girl/guy. The one you have to put up with. The burning jealousy of any past physical and emotional intimacy that fuels a present closeness. The thought that someone might know your boy/girlfriend better than you do. And ultimately, the knowledge that this friend will be a constant in your significant other's life, whether you're in the picture or not. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, then thank your lucky stars.)

Strangely, I feel the need to redeem myself to this girl I've never met, who used to (figuratively) ban and curse my name. To prove that I'm not the raging bitch she imagined. Aside from the fact that it's too late for any of that, it would have been a lost cause. That kind of thinking is hard to reverse - anything that you do can and will most likely be interpreted negatively. I know because I've done it myself.

Photo note: I didn't want to post a picture that hit too close to home (gotta keep it anonymous and general, right?), so here's a completely unrelated photo of me and my Portuguese friend Joao on my last night in Barcelona.