The Dating Chronicles – The Switch

The Dating Chronicles

The Switch

Bill hung up the phone and let out a long sigh.  He didn’t feel like being bothered this night, but Toni wouldn’t take no for an answer. She insisted on coming over, though he pretended to be ill. They had been dating for almost five months and though he liked Toni, she was becoming too high-maintenance for him.

She was distrustful, suspicious, and too demanding of his attention.  She insisted they hold hands in public, kiss in elevators, and talk every night before they went to bed.  He knew she was in love, but that was the farthest thing from his mind.  When they began dating, however, Bill became monogamous for the first time since his divorce.  He dropped all the “fly girls” he knew, for a woman who slept in flannel pajamas.  As he sat there thinking, he wondered how he had gotten so involved with someone who had yet to cook him a meal.  Meanwhile, her constant demand for love and togetherness had become overbearing.

He decided he would end it this night and get his freedom back.  He realized he had given in to Toni because it was a Saturday night, and he didn’t want her to think that he could possibly be entertaining someone else.  He was disgusted with himself, but he vowed this would be the last time.

However, when the doorbell rang an hour later, and Toni bounced across the threshold full of spirit, with that magnificent smile, wearing that hypnotic perfume that always clung to his nostrils long after she was gone, Bill lost his resolve.  As usual, he was so overwhelmed when he saw her that all of his rebellious notions disappeared into a huge grin. Four months later, he bought her a ring and proposed to her on a bent knee at her best friend’s wedding reception.