Ok, so I'm minding my own business one day and I bump into this guy. I was embarassed immediately, because it was my fault. I hadn't been paying much attention where I was going and I was talking to my little sister while we walked through the mall and I bumped right into this guy.

I don't remember if he dropped things or if I dropped things, but something fell and we both gathered it all up. He was all smiles and laughing and he said something about too bad I don't bump into people like you more often. He told me later he thought I was older, and he thought my sister was my daughter.

So with the junk picked up my sister and I went on our way into the "crowds" at the mall. We went into some stores and when we were in line in one of them (to buy our stuff), he was in line behind us. Freaky, yep I know.

So he starts talking to us. I'm not completely stupid. I didn't give this strange man all my information in the middle of a store in the mall. All he knew at this point was my first name. When we had all bumped into eachother he had heard my sister's first name. That was all the info he had when we all spilt up after meeting.

Now, I work in a store. So anyone can come in and no one can really do anything about it unless they are trying to steal or something.

About 3 weeks after we met, he came into the store to buy his groceries. I swear I didn't tell him where I worked, that would have been stupid and irresponsible. He just showed up there. Well while he was in the store he saw me as well and he brought his things through my lane for checkout. You can tell a lot about a person from the things they buy. Maybe only cashiers realize this, but it is true.

So he bought things that were for kids. He wasn't wearing any kinds of rings or anything. While he was checking out he was talking to me a lot. He told me he was getting a divorce and that this was the first time he'd be taking care of the kids all alone. 4 kids 7, 5, 4, and 1. That's when he asked how old my daughter was. I just laughed and said she was my sister. So he left the store, and I thought things were back to normal mundane stuff. I was wrong...

He started coming in every week on days that I worked and coming through my lane. If I was on express and he had too many things he'd go through somewhere else and come back to me to buy a soda or something. I thought he was cute. I thought we were just flirting a little bit, no big deal.

Well wrong again. He eventually asked if I'd go out to lunch with him or for coffee or something. He still didn't know how old I was at that point. When he asked me out, I told him I could only go out at night because of school. (LOL) He still didn't get it. He was like, oh are you in college? I burst his little um bubble that day. He said, and I quote, "Damn. How old are you?" So I told him the truth, I was 17. Then that day he left.

I thought this was really funny. Because I knew he was in his 30's just looking at him. And I pretty much expected him to flip out when he found out I was only 17. Because of some stuff I had going on, I had like the next 5 days off of work. On my 4th day off he called me. He called my store and they gave him my number. (Side note, my number is no longer in the filing cabinet that anyone in the office can look through.)

After that first time we talked things are kind of a blur. I was a senior in HS and I had all kinds of things going on because by this point it was getting close to the end of the year. We started talking on the phone a lot. I'd call him or he'd call me right after I'd get home from school. My friends were all telling me to get away from him because something just wasn't right. I didn't believe them, I was all sure of myself and just kept saying I loved him and he loved me. I mean he sent me flowers with a sweet little card, he was all jealous when I went to the Prom with a friend of mine, and he wanted to come to my graduation. I didn't let him come to my graduation.

My parents didn't know any of this was going on. They still don't know any of this happened. I'm going to keep it that way. My older sister is the only person in my family who knows I saw him again after that first time in the mall. My father would have killed him, or at least beat the crap out of him. My father still cared about me a little at that point. My mom, my gosh, she would have just killed me. Well, not killed, but I would have had some serious bruising. You might think I'm joking, but I'm not.

So, HS is all over and he's starting to say things like I should move in with him, and he wants me to meet his kids, and they'd just love me. For the most part he didn't talk about his wife. (Or ex, as he called her) When I'd ask about her he'd complain about her or call her names or something. He wasn't telling me the complete truth and I didn't realize it. He came here to see me one day and when I finally got around to getting to where he was he was pretty pissed. I was already pissed, which was why I wasn't in a hurry to get to him. We fought a little and he tried to get me to apologize for things I didn't think I should apologize for, and we left it at that. We didn't talk again.

We had a friend in common, and he tried to find out what was going on between the 2 of us and he told him that I was immature and that I wasn't the person he thought I was......I was 17, I was ALLOWED to be immature. Lots of teenagers are ya know! But what makes me mad is I wasn't immature. I've been very adult and very responsible since I've been about 12 years old. I grew up damn fast, because I had to help raise my sister.

So we stopped talking. We had absolutely no communication for about 2 or 3 months, when my phone rang and his wife...yes his WIFE! Called me. She had found my number in his stuff and wanted to talk to me for herself...and so on. She threatened me. She said do your parents know that you're a 17 year old slut and you're on your way to becoming a homewrecker? OMG! I defended myself and I argued right back with her. This woman I'd never seen, who was threatened by me. She hung up on me.

I called her back about half an hour later. I asked if I could tell her about my whole relationship with her husband. She agreed and we talked. I told her the whole story (basically I told her this entry). And she apologized for calling me a slut and a homewrecker.

Part of what her husband and I fought about was the fact that I wouldn't fool around with him. I knew he was technically still married. Now, I thought he was in the process of getting a divorce and I was just waiting till it was final. I was wrong about the reason for waiting because he wasn't getting a divorce, but it was right to wait. He lied to her and he lied to me. He told me they were over, he told her we were having sex. He told her that the night before she called me, when she confronted him about finding my number.

Him and I still have that friend in common, even though we don't talk to one another. The last I had heard him and his wife were still together and she was pregnant again.

So...that is the story of about 1/2 of my 17th year of life. Nice huh? (Sorry about it being like a book.)

Quote "Nice guys finish last." Green Day