Only You

10

"So Katie May, tell me how you met such a wonderful guy like Jake" sarcasticness laced in his words

I snickered as I reached out for my glass of water "its a long story"

"We have all night" he shrugged, smiling in my direction

"Okay" I sighed "I was 19, close to turning 20 when I met him. I was still deciding what I wanted to do at that point so I was working as the front desk person at a local barber shop..my friend owned it and he needed help keeping track of all the appointments along with helping check people out so I went for it. He came in one day, he was 21 at the time, and he asked for a date. I had just gotten out of a relationship where the guy cheated on me so I was kinda vulnerable so I agreed. When I first met him he was very charming, he knew all the right things to say. He wasn't overbearing or anything like that, he would compliment me all the time and made me feel good about myself. It wasn't until about a year into our relationship where things changed, it was like a switch flipped..suddenly he would tell me that I couldn't do better than him, that he was what I deserved. He started criticizing my outfit choices, telling me that I looked kind of trampy or that people were going to think I was looking for someone to sleep with. He slowly started to belittle me and I became dependent on him. Somehow he manipulated me to think that everything he was doing was completely normal, due to my previous relationship I was scared to do anything to cause him to cheat on me and he used that to his advantage. He would sometimes threaten to leave me and since I thought he was the best I could do I would beg him to stay. He took advantage of what I had gone through and used it as a way to control me." I took in a deep breath, letting it out as a way to heal me kind of "this is the first I talk about him without crying" I chuckled trying to ease the tension from all I've told him

"So you didn't know he was crazy at all?" he let out a small chuckle

"Not to this extent" I joined in his laughter "I didn't see the red flags"

"That's not your fault though" he took my plate along with his and made his way to the kitchen

"How so?" I stood up to help clear our mess, walking up to the island where he was

"He had you blinded, he put lenses over your eyes that made those red flags seem harmless"

I stood there pondering as the words his just said continued to replay in my head, it felt unbelievable to me that he wouldn't blame me. For years the blame was always on me and now it felt as if a heaviness was taken off of my shoulders

It wasn't my fault at all, it was Jake's

*short chapter but I wanted to add a little part where she explained how her and Jake met. Let me know what you think*