Stories From The Grapevine

Miranda

I met this girl, February of 2014. I'm a girl too, by the way. Now, I really liked her. I felt like she caught me in a perfect time in my life. I was doing stuff I had no business. You know the typical college kid tryna hustle. I'll let you use your imagination.

    So we got together and I really liked her. In the beginning of a relationship, it's kind of like you kind of don't see stuff or you'll be so far into it, you don't want to believe what is being shown to you. Off the bat, all of my friends are telling me, you know, she's not for you, she's not for you, she is not for you. So I'm like, okay cool. Well, I'm with this girl and at that time I was a club promoter. So, I remember going to Club Shade in Lafayette and her ex being there. Her ex stared me up and down all night. Now, I'm a club promoter, mind you, so I'm with a group of people - girls and boys - and we're dancing; that's what we do, that's our job. So I remember leaving the club and having this long ass text message: 'You're so fucking dumb' and 'Why would you try to approach my ex and fight her?' Now, I don't fight y'all and if you knew who this was, y'all would know I don't fight. I'm like okay, I'm telling her I didn't do any of that but she was still going hard. So I'm the type of person that if I'm not guilty, I'm not about to argue with you and I left the conversation at that. The entire time, I found out, she was doing that just to get a reaction. I kind of think she is in love with her ex and I'll tell you why I say that. But, moving on, all of this is happening and she's fussing at me, accusing me of coming at her ex when, in my mind, I'm thinking if I'm for you then why does that matter? Even though I didn't do it. But, you know, keep your mouth shut.

    So we link up, it's the summer time. Now summer time, I had to pay two thousand dollars to get back into UL because I was cutting the fuck up, you heard me. I was doing everything I wasn't supposed to be doing and you know, financial aid, I wanted my refund. So I got a job at Cheddar's - a serving job, you know.  So I started making money every day, I love it; stacking my bread and I pay off all of the money I owed to Financial Aid. Now, she was in the same situation as me but here's the thing that really should have caught my attention- when I paid it off, you know, she wasn't so happy about it. It was like she was shitting on my parade. And, I felt like she was because she didn't do the same thing I did.

    So, okay, I let it go and I got my financial aid back. She was telling me I wouldn't get it back, I wouldn't get back, I wouldn't get it back, but then I remembered something- I'd gotten into a car accident the day before Thanksgiving 2013. By the time it came time to appeal my financial aid, I had a cervical sprain in my neck and that's what really helped me get it back. Even though I paid the money off, that's what really helped me because, literally, I had a doctor's note saying that I couldn't concentrate. The way my orthopedic wrote it was he was allowing me to go to school because he would ask me many times if I would take the semester off and they would reimburse me and everything but I wanted to go to school because I was cutting up, period.

    Now, I get my financial aid back, we're talking August now. So I start school, realize schools' not really for me, right now, so I took some time off. When I got my lawsuit money, you know a good lil' couple thousand, I watched how different she was. It was like more of a spoiled brat. It was more of an 'I have to finance you' type of thing and I didn't like it. It went from being genuine to being a job. It went from being genuine to being a burden. It went just...everything went down but, like I told you, I'm stubborn so I'm not paying attention. I'm so far into it, I'm not seeing what's happening.

    I remember doing a lot of stuff I didn't have any business. I remember her telling me 'Go trap so you can make us some money.' And I remember, that sticks in my head because I remember the day before I'd told her I wasn't doing that anymore, you know what I'm saying. Because, you only get grace and mercy for so long. And I remember when she said 'Go trap and make us some money', I looked at her different. I wasn't in love any more. I wasn't-I don't know. I never had a girl that wanted to risk my life...for her...in the streets. Like, what?

    So, whatever, we're still talking. Now it's to the point where we're all up under each other. She's at my apartment every day, every day, every day. So December rolls around and its Christmas time. I'm just going to fast forward but, it was Christmas time. Now, I didn't know at this time that she was cheating on me. I just told ya'll we were sleeping in the same bed every night; I was working. So, my sister's friend told me over winter break that she was in Houston with another girl. Now, I'm not thinking about it because she told me she was going to Houston. But you know how someone will tell half of the story and still not tell you anything? So, I figured she was with another girl but you know denial is a motherfucker and I hope no one ever goes through that shit. So, I don't believe my sister's friend. Well, come to find out, she had been cheating on me with a girl for six months and she moved back to Monroe. I'm thinking she's still in Lafayette but let me show you how smart she is: she started an argument. So I'm thinking she's just not talking to me, I'm thinking she's back at school but she's in Monroe shacked up with this girl. And I'm in Lafayette, losing my mind, crying myself to sleep, feeling like I'm the problem. Isn't that something? Isn't. That. Something.

    The moral of the story is this: whenever everyone around you is telling you the something, whether it's good, whether it's bad, believe them. Because a lot of times what we do as human is we develop tunnel vision. Most times you hear about tunnel vision regarding to success but we do it a lot in relationships. Meaning, we're so far into it, we don't want an outside perspective. An outside perspective can prevent a lot of stuff. Believe it or not, all my friends who are close to me told me it wasn't going to work. All of them told me that- several times, but my pride interpreted it as them hating on me versus me staying humble and realizing they were looking out for me. So a whole year of my life is gone...I can never get that back. But, anytime you trust you gut, you always win.

    If I would've trusted my gut, I would've never gotten cheated on for six months; I would have been able to heal properly and everything else. But, you can't trust people; a lot of them are temporary. A lot of people come at you with a motive and she had a motive. She saw the two previous relationships I had in college, so she just figured I was a young, dumb, rich kid with money and she was going to bleed me dry until I started to notice. And she did. But, I always get the last laugh because she will never be as close to me as she was before. So, you lose.