Justin and Julie - Part 2

I'm writing a detailed account of how Justin and I met and became a couple for our posterity.  It is long, so I've decided to write in three separate parts.

If you haven't read Part 1, read it here first.

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Besides belonging to the same church and attending FSU, Jared and I didn't have much in common.  But for the first month or so we got a long great, except for his love of hunting.  Sadly I learned all too much about hunting while we were dating including the fact that the hunting seasons in Georgia and Florida are super long.

Jared's family had a hunting cabin in Georgia and most weekends he headed up there with his dad and brother to hunt.  I would always ask him to not go and to spend time with me instead, however he frequently told me that he HAD to hunt and that I could always call Justin and see what other people were doing if I was bored or wanted something to do.

Yes, my boyfriend would tell me to call the guy he didn't want me to go out with when I first moved there to see if we could do something together.  It was strange.  Sometimes Jared acted like he was jealous of Justin which was odd - did I not choose to date Jared over Justin?  Others times he kind of made fun of Justin and acted like he couldn't believe that Justin thought he had a shot with me over him.  Insecure, I guess.

So every once in a while Justin and I would do things together over the weekend.  Always just as friends and always with other people involved.  However once just the two of us rode down to Orlando to visit the Orlando LDS Temple, but someone else joined the two of us on the way back.

I enjoyed getting to know Justin better, but still never thought of him as anything other than a friend.

As that first semester that I was back in school went by, I liked Jared less and less.  The first month or so we dated he was considerate and kind, then he started being more selfish and self-absorbed.  I made excuses for him - after all, he was having a rough time with a new job, he was in his last year of school so his classes were harder than they had been before, etc.  I kept thinking that he would change back to the way he was before.  I kept thinking that I could change him back.  I think that is why I dated him for about 5 and a half months.

I was grateful to go home and spend Christmas break with my family and I hoped that when I got back to Tallahassee, Jared and I would start out the way we originally started out.  But the time away that he spent with his family made things worse.  His mother babied him and did everything for him.  I heard from both him and her that when it was cold outside she would go out and start his truck and get it running for him so it wouldn't be as cold.  She insisted that he (and his brother and dad) never had to do dishes - it was her job.  Little things like this had actually ruined Jared.

I started feeling like Jared and I needed to break up, but I was dragging my feet.  I had already invested almost 5 months in him, maybe I could still get back to the Jared I had first met somehow.  I even asked him once if we should not be dating anymore and just be friends.  He said no and I told him that he didn't act like someone that I wanted to be dating.  I thought we were going to break up then, but we decided we would stay together.

It was the end of January and I went to an activity up at the church that the singles' ward was having.  I was just kind of glad to get out without Jared.  They were learning some swing dance steps and, as usual with this type of activity, there were too many girls and not enough guys.  I sat on the stage to watch.  I didn't really know people very well, I had chosen to date Jared instead of getting to know people.  I watched people play around and flirt with each other and I wished I had more friends there.

Then Justin walked in.  And he wasn't alone.  Following close behind him (maybe they were holding hands?  I can't remember) was a pretty girl who was tall and thin with long, dark hair.

I was jealous.

I left to drive myself home and didn't stay to watch everyone anymore.  I kept thinking two things.

One - I needed to break up with Jared.

And two - I had messed everything up five months earlier.