The Dating Chronicles – The Breaking Point

The Dating Chronicles

The Breaking Point

Mel stood quietly listening at the door.  There was no sound coming from the other side. He knocked again for the last time and turned away angry. Angie had done it again.  She had promised to wait for him, but she had not.

He started down the stairs with his head bent in disgust.  He fingered the ring box in his pocket and made a decision to return it.  Suddenly he felt defeated.  He was tired of the chase and the uncertainty in the relationship with Angie, and he wanted out.

 He had come that night to ask her to be his wife, in an effort to lay claim and to tame her.  His intent was to capture her and to ensure at last that she would belong to him.  But now he wanted no parts of her.  He was no longer fascinated with trying to conquer her wild spirit.

 As he walked sullenly through the lobby and passed the smiling doorman, he recalled all the bills he had slipped him over the last year to usher him in unannounced, and how angry Angie would be when she would open the door and see him standing there.  He could have any woman he wanted, but Angie was the one he dreamed about. He was disgusted with himself as he reflected on all the mental anguish he had endured since meeting her. 

She had been flighty and elusive from the beginning, but he had fallen in love anyway.  She had a way about her that enticed him to do things against his will and move against his grain.  Deep down in his heart, he knew it was her strength and total disregard for convention that led him hypnotically to follow her in whatever direction she took him.   He hung on hoping she would eventually come around and succumb to the love he held for her, but she did not.

As he approached his car, he vowed to never go near her again.  Enough was enough.  He was fed up with the games and the unpredictability of her feelings, and he wanted no more.  As he started the engine, he felt free and liberated by his decision.

Then he heard that laugh, and he turned to see her walking toward his car.  His heart soared wildly at the sight of the familiar smile.  But he didn’t move.  She called his name, as he began to back the car out slowly, but he kept going.  Tears streamed down his face, as she began to run towards his car.  He felt grief as he turned his wheel and drove away.  He could still hear her calling his name when he went to sleep that night. The phone rang all night, but he didn’t answer. It was the first time he had rebuffed her.

The next morning he awoke to her pounding on his door, but he didn’t open it.  When he walked out two hours later to return the ring to the store, she was sitting in her car waiting on him.  When she ran towards him with tears in her eyes, he embraced her with open arms.  As they stood hugging, she apologized and asked for his forgiveness.  He ended up kneeling on the sidewalk and proposing with the ring in his hand. Three days later, Mel stood at the airport waiting to meet Angie so they could fly to Las Vegas to get married … but she failed to show.