The Archenemy Cometh, Giveth, and Taketh Away

My friendship with M&C has turned very close.

We can be quite frank around each other and not be put off  by what we say. When they invited me out yesterday, I thought it'd be just another window-shopping trip. We'd look at the lamps and say, "Oh yeah, this lamp with that shade" or "This would go great in my room."

When you're low on money, window-shopping is nice because you can imagine these objects in your space, from a nice leather chair and matching ottoman to a nice bookshelf with more space than what you need. I've never really been in a Target store before, so it's a trip when I go. It's like a quiet version of Walmart, and I like it.

The last time I went, I rode around in the electric carts and it was fun. Some cute person looked at me, for a moment there, we shared eye-contact. And it was awesome.

This time, though, no electric carts. I felt a pep in my step, so I decided to do the able-bodied thing and walk like the others. We window-shopped, we browsed, I tested out the bad focusing on the DSLRs, and checked out the attractive salesperson at the electronics counter. 

The visit has been quite uneventful, that was until we were about to leave.

Us three were in the back of the store, standing next to a rack of women's athletic apparel. As I turned to my right, I saw something so spectacular. There was someone standing across of me-- it was--- it was--- The Archenemy's spouse.

I hadn't seen her since the senior checkout day at my high school when I stopped her and made her sign my yearbook, lest she be restricted to do so by some unknown power. She stood there, wearing a light-coloured shirt and dark pants, with her arms at her side, her hands perpendicular to her arm. Her face said it all. It mirrored mine: opened mouth, and eyes wide open. 

"Holy shit."

Mike was standing in my way, so I pushed him ever-so-slightly* out of my path and I ran to her. I was going to reach her when out of the dressing rooms comes out The Archenemy, holding a few pairs of blue jeans in his hands. I veered off to the right, as if my course was a mistake made in transit, corrected at the last possible second. 

I went deep into the section of the store, finally stopping a four or five clotheshorses from the dressing rooms. 

Mike quickly came up to me and asked whether or not I was OK. He could see I was very upset by what had just happened. I told Mike, nervously staring at the rack of clothes in front of me, "It's just that I haven't seen her in a year, and it hurts that I can't fucking embrace her."

At this point, with tears in my eyes, Mike reassured me that he was insecure and etc. 

After a talking to me, I told M&C that I'd be back in ten minutes. I began walking like some kind of teary-eyed zombie down the aisle, breathing heavily, a few steps from bawling in a fucking Target. I walked around, thinking that both the spouse and the TA had left the dressing rooms. 

After walking around for a few minutes, and making my way to the opposite store, I grabbed a bottle of ginger ale so I wouldn't seem like this guy who was just walked around pale-faced, heavy-breathing weirdo. 

Soon after picking up the bottle, I saw both of them walking near the housewares section of the store. I coughed loudly, or what I thought was loudly, to get her attention. I don't believe she heard me because I there was no acknowledgement of the sound. I continued walking like some kind of soulless shell, hoping to run into them and just hug the living shit out of her. 

After some time, I made my way to the front of the store. Disappointed that I couldn't find her, I began walking back to M&C when I saw them. The Spouse saw me and quickly pushed the TA to the register to pay. I nonchalantly walked away, as if there was nothing to be had. I hid behind a hat display and watched the TA pay for the purchase. He grabbed the bag and they both walked out as if nothing had happened.

When I got back to M&C, Mike told me that she had come out looking for me. "Oh great, I feel even worse now!" I was deeply upset that I couldn't even talk to one of my best friends because of a spat between me and her boyfriend. 

Mike tried to cheer me up, but under the circumstances, I'd have to wait out the feels.

We made our way to the registers, where I bought the bottle of ginger ale I had been holding for twenty minutes. It was covered in fingerprints. Fingerprints that showed how tightly I held that bottle during our confrontation, if you could call it that.

Later the following day, I received an IM from the Spouse talking about the day before. I wrote back, but have yet to receive a reply, both to that IM and text messages.

On a side note, ever since then, I've been going back-and-forth on whether or not to send a message via Facebook to The Archenemy. I do this in hoping that I can normalize relations, rather than be enemies who act like the Korean peninsula. I would rather live knowing that I tried than to just have believed it would have helped. I have already written it, but it to send it is another story... coming later on. 

* I can't say how hard I pushed Mike out of my path, but it was a small push...

it was required, and totally necessary.