The Greatest Love Story Ever Told

It didn’t amount to much at first…our first meeting. I wouldn’t even call it a meeting, more like an encounter. It was on May 6th 2013, we had just started a new position at Bank of America. I was driving around frantically trying to find my way to the main entrance. I was late as usual and rushed into the training room to find a seat. That’s when he said he first noticed me. He liked how I looked in my pearl earrings. I have no memory of seeing him that day. In fact, as bad as it sounds, I didn’t know he existed until weeks later. He told me at the end of our first date that it was love at first sight. I told him there’s no such thing…

Our first date was doomed from the very beginning. I made the mistake of “double booking” the night that we were supposed to go out. I had an event to go to around seven and our movie date was supposed to begin around eight. I thought I could do both even though the event space and the movie theatre were on opposite sides of town and it was a Friday night, which meant traffic was going to be horrible. At around 8:45 I called him to let him know I was running late (as usual). He sounded mad and told me that he had already left to go home but that he would come back. When we met up outside the theatre his eyes were bloodshot red, it looked as though he had been crying. He smelled like beer. We hugged awkwardly and he told me he stopped by a bar when he realized that I wasn’t coming. He admitted that he thought I had stood him up and was embarrassed about having to tell all of our coworkers and sister what happened. I could hear the pain in his voice. Did he really tell his sister about me already? There was something else I noticed. It was a look in his eyes; It looked like love but I knew that couldn’t be it. I wondered why he told his sister about me. Two years later we went to the same movie theatre, I saw the same look in his eyes as he got down on one knee and proposed…

True love has the ability to completely expand your knowledge of yourself and of the human experience. His love gave me a sense of clarity that I had never experienced before. His love enhanced my life. Our love was contagious; it was like a gravitational force and we just couldn’t help but orbit around each other. Yet our love proved to be our demise. True love doesn’t compromise. It’s very demanding. It only wants what’s best for both parties and it won’t settle for anything less. Rather than bringing us closer together our love started to push us further apart. The stakes were too high. The love was too strong. A shot with no chaser. We weren’t prepared for that type of power. The power of love. No one warned us of the wreckage that true love leaves in its wake. We pulled back the curtains in our hearts to let love in not knowing the strength of its direct light. We felt exposed. Naked. We had to protect ourselves. To shield ourselves from love's burn. We needed a love screen. I couldn't get away from the loving look in his eyes.

We started to put layers of protection on. Creating distance between our hearts and our love. We closed the curtains. The light of our love was so bright it illuminated all of our flaws and insecurities. Things we had been able to hide in other relationships were now enhanced and in sharp focus thanks to our love’s light. It was too much for us to bear. All of a sudden, marriage wasn’t important to me anymore. I lost my engagement ring. I never said I wanted to be engaged anyway. I got a new job so we didn’t have to work together. It was unhealthy to spend so much time with each other I said. He started working longer hours and coming home late. We never went to the movies again…

The last time we spoke was when he came by my apartment to drop off a pair of my earrings. He handed me the earrings and said he found them behind his dresser. I gripped them in the palm of my hand as we talked outside on the stairs. He said he was cleaning up and moving things around for his girlfriend’s stuff. She was moving in that weekend. He admitted that they met at work, bonding on the nights they both worked late. I remember the earrings dropped from my hand at that moment. All of a sudden they felt too heavy. I told him I needed to go inside. I was running late for a meeting. It was too hot. The sun was shining too bright. I wanted to close the curtains. Before I went back in I asked him if it was love at first sight when he saw her. He didn’t say anything at first. He just looked down at the earrings. I asked him again, was it love at first sight? He stared at me and said, “Remember you told me there’s no such thing…”