The Drive By: Part I

Mr 36 and I met shortly after I graduated from college. I had moved back to my hometown to attend graduate school. He was a young professional in a high profile career. We were both young and vibrant with the world at our fingertips. It was no surprise that we were attracted to each other immediately. He was tall, dark and handsome... I was petite, cute and sassy with tons of personality...a match made in heaven :)

Neither of us were looking for love, but you have no control over Cupid; when he strikes, he strikes. After a few months of hanging out, we both knew that we didn't want to share each other with anyone else, so we decided to become exclusive.

Things started out perfect. From the day that we met, we were inseperable. Though we had seperate residences, I spent the bulk of my time at his house. I was such a fixture in his daily routine, that he gave me a set of keys to his place so that I could come and go as I pleased. I rarely had to use them though, because for the most part, once my day ended, he was already home waiting for me. We had a routine that was pretty consistent. The only inconsistencies were every other weekend when he had to travel for his job. That was the time in which I spent with my sisterfriends. I had completely dissed them for the company of my new found beau.

About a year into our relationship, the dynamics began to change. His job became a little more demanding and stressful and caused his attitude to alter. The time we spent together started to be more infrequent and his moods were very fickle. I decided to give him a little breathing room, and started to spend more nights at my own apartment. I first noticed a significant change during the month of October. I remember it sooooo clearly. To say it was a few years ago, it still feels like yesterday.

It was a Tuesday evening. We spent every Tuesday together because generally Tuesday was his off day, and the only day that I didn't have any classes to attend. But for some weird reason this Tuesday was different. I didn't spend the night at his place the night before, so I called him early Tuesday morning to see what he had planned for us for the day. He didn't answer. I left a message around 10am and waited around for him to call me back. I cleaned my house, went to visit my parents, and went to run errands. 3pm came and he still hadn't returned my phone call. "Odd," I thought, so I called him again. No answer; left a message, no return call.

Since we had been together not one single day went by without us speaking. Since we had been together not one single Tuesday had gone by without us spending the day together. Since we had been together not one time had I left a message without my call being promptly returned. Something was odd, but I just couldn't place it.

Fast forward a couple of weeks. Things hadn't changed much. I wasn't sleeping over at his house every night anymore, and we were spending less and less time together. I would call him and sometimes he wouldn't return my phone call until the next morning. His main excuse would be that he had fallen asleep early because work was really wearing him out. That wasn't a far-fetched notion, but I wasn't buying the excuse. My woman's intuition had kicked in and I started to pay attention to other little things.

It was now November and I was very unsure at the turn our relationship was taking, but I didn't have much time to focus on it because I was trying to finish up my first semester of grad school. I had promised to commit myself to working on our relationship once the semester was over. I just didn't have the fortitude to do so at the time.

One Friday evening as I was leaving his house, I was involved in a car accident. I was hit from behind while sitting at a red light. The jolt was strong enough to make me have whiplash and my rear bumper was messed up pretty badly. The driver of the car, a young pretty girl, was very unapologetic; almost rude even. We exchanged the pertinent information and went about our business. She left me with a bad taste in my mouth. It wasn't until after she drove off that I realized that she worked for the same company as Mr. 36. He was bound to know her.

I immediately drove back to Mr. 36's house and told him about my fender bender. He was in a meeting when it happened so he was unable to meet me at the scene. I also mentioned to him the young lady's name and asked if he knew her. He said that he did know of her, but only in passing. Something about that young lady didn't sit well with me from the moment I met her. I'm not sure if it was the way she repeated my name after I introduced myself, or the way she stared me down as if she had met me before. I made it a point to get as much information on her as possible, simply because my gut told me to do so.

The next week turned month, things with Mr. 36 and I had gotten increasingly shaky. I took it upon myself to play Inspector Gadget, hoping to find some reason for the hot/cold that our relationship had become. I went through his dresser, caller ID, email, etc. I was unable to find anything suspicious. Was I over reacting?

A few nights later, Mr. 36 decided to play one of his disappearing acts again. By this time I was convinced that another woman was in the picture, I just had no way of proving it. After talking to a friend, I decided to go to his house to see if he was really asleep. I was growing tired of the foolish excuses that he was falling asleep at 8pm every day. He was a night owl and I found it to be almost impossible for him to go to bed that early, even if he was working a hectic schedule. Hell, I'm a sleeper and I don't even sleep that much! I told my mom what I was about to do and she tried to talk me out of it, but I was relentless. "No," I said, "I am going to drive over there and see if there are any cars parked outside of his condo." My mom advised me against it, but I was relentless.

She decided to come along for the ride. On our way there, she tried to talk me out of it. "If you feel the need to snoop, you should feel the need to leave. Never should your relationship get to a point that you don't trust him enough to have to go to these measures!" Her words went through one ear and out the next. We pulled into his community and drove down the street. "Stop here," my mom said. She offered to get out and jog the two additional blocks to his house so that I wouldn't drive directly in front of it. "Meet me at the corner on the next street." I obliged and met her around the block. When she got back in the car I looked at her, but she avoided eye contact. "Do you know anyone who owns a Silver Camry?"

Mr. 36 had an SUV. No one he knew (that I knew of) had a Silver Camry. The worst part of all of this is, it was after midnight and he did not mention having any company. The last time I spoke to him, which was 5 hours prior, he declined MY company, stating that he was tired and wanted to be alone. If that was the case, why was there a car in his driveway? Giving him the benefit of the doubt I called him to see if maybe someone popped up. No answer. I waited a few minutes and called back, no answer. I left a message, no response.

I debated on what I should do. I needed to drive by the house to see for myself. My mom begged me not to, but I couldn't listen to her on that one. I drove in front of his condo, and in his driveway sat a Silver Toyota Camry. The car was soooo familiar to me. It wasn't just ANY Silver Toyota Camry. It was the same Silver Toyota Camry that rear-ended me a month prior!!!! I knew it was the car, not simply because of the make and model, but because the dent still remained!!! WTF??!!

To Be Continued....