Fairy Tale Fail Read Online Free

about it at all.
    But they all reacted the same
anyway.
    They called him a jerk, an ass, and
other colorful terms. I told them that they didn't have to do that.
No need for a breakup to turn ugly.
    "Ellie, a breakup is a
breakup. He just decided that he didn't love you enough to accept
you for who you are," my older sister, Gladys, said. "It's already ugly."
    The only group that wasn't as
unanimous in its hatred of Don was, understandably, the office
group. I understood how difficult this must have been for our
friends. When Don and I were in the same place together
post-breakup, we never talked. I especially felt irritable and on
edge a lot, because I thought that Don was trying to provoke me by
ignoring me as blatantly as possible.
    Friends later told me that he seemed
especially paranoid about what he thought I said about him to other
people. He told them not to believe me, that I was bitter and
slightly obsessed with him, and that I had a hard time moving
on.
    "Did you tell him?" I
wailed to Charisse when she told me. "Did you tell him that all my
friends have been itching to slap me because I've been trying to
tell his side of
the story to them as well as mine?"
    She shrugged. "I don't
think he believes it. Do you have secret blackmail info on him,
girl? He's so out
to discredit you."
    That wasn't fair. I was
losing my dignity little by little every time I defended him to a
friend. (A friend who was on my side! They all thought I was nuts.) But I
respected him and what we had. Too bad he didn't feel the same
way.
    So I decided that I was not
going to avoid him, whether he liked it or not. If he was talking
trash about me to our common friends, then I had to somehow be
there to save my own face. Or at least be given a chance to be
heard. I showed up at dinners, and lunches out, and tried to have
as much fun as I could in the same room without actually looking at him. It
was exhausting.
    Finally, after weeks of
this, Charisse invited me to coffee. We went to the Starbucks at
the lobby of our building, and she treated me to a mocha
frap. Uh oh. This
was not going to be something I wanted to hear.
    She was one of the leaders
that kept that group together, and as soon as she paid for my drink
I knew that she wasn't acting as my friend right then, but everyone's friend.
    "Ellie," she said, and to her credit
she looked really pained about it. "I need to talk to you about
this whole Don thing."
    "Excuse me?" I said.
    "It's getting a bit tense. Look, we're
all friends here. It's just tough on everyone that we can't all
hang out anymore because we're afraid of how you're going to
feel."
    "Me? Did you talk to Don
too?"
    "I tried to," Charisse said, and I
believed her. "And I'm sorry, but as far as he's concerned, you two
are done. So I'm talking to you now."
    Ouch.
    That day, she pretty much told me
this: That they couldn't handle our drama anymore. They weren't
going to choose between us, but they didn't like how the group was
splitting between people who were on Don's side and Ellie's
side.
    When it got down to it, he
was their friend
first. If I wanted to stay with them, I was going to have to accept
that.
     
    ***
     
    It was at a party, three
months after Don and I broke up, that I did something stupid. By
that time I was feeling isolated and alone. Even my friends were
sick of hearing about Don, and I complied by not talking about him
or asking about him (much), but I couldn't help thinking about him.
    I hung out with our common friends
less and less, but I still made a point to show up when I was
invited somewhere. His treatment of me grew maddeningly
unpredictable: one day we'd actually talk about a movie like decent
people, and the next he'd mention right in front of me how he
wanted to be introduced to some girl.
    By then I couldn't confide in Charisse
anymore, because she had already given me The Talk. If I was
uncomfortable, I didn't have to show up. She would
understand.
    But I didn't want him
to win.
    So I went to