(Written by Jer)
A lot happened after all the drama. I slipped into a depression, vowed to straighten my life out and get Aly back, then fell apart. Until Mom, whom I’d lived with, moved away to Oregon (never mind why, it’s an even more interesting love story than this story here, but it’s not my story to tell) and I moved in with my Aunt.
A year went by and I still hadn’t done anything with myself. Somehow or another I got back in touch with Aly. We chatted a bit and had some laughs, but she still had reservations about remaining in contact given our history together. She was single at that point but it wasn’t long before she had a new boyfriend. The thing I was really happy about for her was that she had finally got her life coming back together. After going to school helping her mum (who was a teacher), she had repeatedly mentioned to her co-workers at a local gas station how much she had enjoyed working with the children. One of them suggested that she apply to get her Bachelor’s degree in teaching. Aly wasn’t sure if it was what she wanted to do but was persuaded by the fact that she didn’t have to take the place if it was offered to her, and even if she didn’t like the course, the worst thing that could happen was that she left the course like before. So Aly worked up the courage to go back to university and study to be a teacher, specializing in art and design. It was a huge and scary step for her but something she was determined to do and I was so proud of her (but still gutted when she got another boyfriend!). I was still set on being with her at that point, and eventually we simply lost touch. I couldn’t bear to hear about her with another guy, so I disappeared.
It was then that a marvelous thing happened. Something I couldn’t believe, and something I doubt Aly could either, but it happened. My father gave me a car. He actually gave me a car. I mustn’t say more because there’s only a small handful of people who really knew my father’s true colors when it came to his family, but suffice to say that this is on par with Bill Gates making Windows totally free. Unreal.
Getting a car opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me, and I managed to land a job at A&W in Cabazon, California. I earned a dollar over minimum wage at the time and received full benefits (medical, dental, vision, 401k, paid vacation and sick time, the works). An unreal job for a restaurant. And at that job I excelled very quickly and became the most dependable member of the crew. I found that I loved working, and they loved me working. It wasn’t long before I was working LOTS of overtime as well, for 9 months straight I never saw a week below 50 hours and one week I peaked out at 62 hours. I was consistent, which is why I got the overtime – because I was the only one there who could work so hard and be so dependable. So much for me not being able to handle physical work! The fact that it was a restaurant job shouldn’t be laughed at. That A&W was the #1 A&W in the western USA, running between 5-8 crewmembers at a time, and anyone who knows what it’s like to run fast food when it’s busy on just a few crewmembers knows how difficult it is.
In this time I’d given up on getting with Aly, and got fed up with the idea of internet girlfriends altogether. I had actual money now, and I had gotten out of the house and started to live. I drove up to see my brother and sister for their birthdays and gave them huge gifts, the likes of which they’d never seen before, paid off bills for other family members and generally just threw money around because I wasn’t used to having it and wanted to give back to my family who had supported me when I was just a bum.
I had a great time and finally pulled myself together, bought a new car (the one dad had given me wasn’t really all that great and was barely running by the time I was finished with it) and was living my life in bursts where I’d work my butt off, save loads of money and then splurge on something exciting. I played games like Final Fantasy XI and World of Warcraft when I wasn’t at work. I bought a guitar like I’d always wanted, went to the movies with friends, went bowling, got a cellphone and bills and basically started to grow up.
And then, for laughs… I thought I’d log into Nilgiri and see how my old friends were doing.