Blueprint for Romance

Moping

Damon

“Ok, you need to stop that,” Naomi stated harshly. Molly nudged me and I sighed as I looked over at my sister. It didn’t matter that we didn’t share the same mother, Naomi was my sister. I noted that she was studying me quite closely and I sighed even louder. “Seriously, what is this?”

“It’s called moping,” Molly offered, and I quickly shot her a warning look. Naomi had no idea that Vanessa and I were fooling around. Used to fool around. I hung my head as I once again scolded myself for being a moron.

“Ok…why are you…moping?” Naomi asked, as she now kept her eyes on Asher and Abigail.

“I’m not moping,” I argued as I shot another warning look in Molly’s direction. She shrugged, uncaringly, as she went back to paying attention to her phone.

“Well, whatever it is, it’s depressing…so…talk to me, what’s going on?” Naomi glanced over at me, and I sighed even louder than the last two times. I didn’t want to talk about it.

“He dumped his non-girlfriend,” Molly explained, and I groaned as I reached over and snatched her phone. “HEY!” she exclaimed, but I quickly stuffed her phone into my pocket. “Give it back,”

“No,”

“Ok, back up…non-girlfriend?” Naomi questioned. Her attention was divided between us and her kids, but I knew she wouldn’t let this go. I gave Molly a look that promised I would kill her later. She wasn’t even remotely threatened as she stood up and held out her hand for her phone.

“Just tell her…and give me back my phone,” she demanded. I knew it was childish, so I gave her back her phone. She stomped off and disappeared from sight.

“So, like she said…just tell me,” Naomi urged. I didn’t want to tell her anything because I didn’t want to have to explain everything. Then again, maybe this was a good thing, and I could sort out my feelings. “Who is this non-girlfriend?”

“Vanessa,” I admitted as I watched her closely. Naomi looked surprised as she turned to face me. Her full attention was now on me, and I hated being under the spotlight like this.

“Damon, you can’t be serious,” she remarked, and I frowned. “I mean, it’s not that…I’m just confused. What is a non-girlfriend? And you dumped her? Damon, what’s going on?”

“It just sort of happened,” I started. “Vanessa had made it pretty clear from the start that she liked me…wanted me…I didn’t…I don’t really want a relationship, so I kept…telling her no,” Naomi nodded as she started to glance between me and the kids. I wasn’t fooled though; Naomi wouldn’t let this go until she knew everything. “And then one night it just…we slept together,”

“Wait, what?” Naomi gasped in surprise, but I merely shrugged. “So…you two started sleeping together…but not…wait, I’m still confused,”

“Basically, our friendship turned into being friends with benefits. So, yes, we started sleeping together,”

“Ok…but why not just go into a relationship with her?” she asked, and I could tell that she was struggling to understand that part. Molly didn’t understand it either, and I wasn’t even sure how to explain it.

“I don’t want a relationship,” I stated. Naomi studied me for a moment before she looked away.

“Like, you don’t want a relationship at all…or you just don’t want a relationship with Vanessa?”

“At all,” I said. “I just…I’m finally getting my life on track and…and I just know that Atticus and Alastair are going to ask me to partner with them. And I still have so much to prove…I don’t want to have to worry about maintaining a relationship with anyone,” I did my best to explain, and while Naomi nodded, I knew she didn’t quite understand. “Vanessa is great, but her life is just as bad as mine is,”

“How so?”

“She works at the café, Naomi,”

“And? What’s wrong with that? At least she’s doing honest work,” Naomi said, and I could tell that I had pissed her off. “No job is petty or should be belittled, Damon. Vanessa enjoys working at the café, and maybe it’s her life’s dream, or maybe it isn’t. I just don’t think judging her like that is nice. In fact, it’s a bit low of you,”

“I just mean that she hasn’t exactly settled down,” I quickly tried to backtrack. The last thing I wanted was to get into an argument with her. Naomi could be fierce when she wanted to be, and I preferred to avoid that.

“Well, I can see what you mean by that, but I still don’t think it’s any reason to not enter into a relationship with her. Besides, Mandy told me she bought a house. If that doesn’t scream settling down, then what else?”

“I know…” I muttered. This wasn’t going well at all, and I started to think of excuses for how to get out of it.

“But you dumped, why?” Naomi then asked and I groaned. “Why, Damon?”

“Because she started acting weird. She wants us to be more…just more…and I don’t want that…and then she bought the house, and I just got this feeling that maybe she did that because she wants more from me,” I explained. It was, at best, a pathetic excuse. One that I had instantly regretted. However, Molly was right. I couldn’t lead Vanessa on anymore. She didn’t deserve that. “Look, the main reason I ended things was because I don’t want to hold her back from living her life. She deserves to be with someone who actually wants to be in a relationship. She deserves a lot more than what I offered, which was basically just s*x,”

“Ok, that was far too much information, but…I guess, I can understand your point. Letting her go is more for her than yourself…which is a selfless act. But…you aren’t happy about it?”

“No, I miss her,” I admitted. “Please don’t read into that,” I quickly added. The last thing I needed was for Naomi to start playing matchmaker.

“I want to read more into it, but I think I get it. But…Damon, maybe it’s time that you took a good long look at your life. What you want and how you should go about getting what you want. I know you want a partner, so…think about that, ok?” Naomi said before she stood up and went over to where the twins were playing. Maybe Naomi was right.