The Science of Growing Apart

28- Video Evidence

"Are you drinking alone because of the breakup?" I asked him slowly. The bar was loud, as it was closing in on a Saturday night and people were ready to let loose and get drunk.

"Kind of the opposite," he admitted to me. "I feel so good about the breakup that it's making me feel like shit. I shouldn't feel this good, it makes me a shitty person."

"I don't think it makes you shitty, I just think it means you were holding onto the relationship for too long. It probably died a while ago but you are a very sweet, stubborn guy and you wanted to make it work."

"I really did try so hard," he agreed with me. "She's so mad at me. Mad that I wasted her time, mad that I didn't want to get married at the St. Regis so that she could brag to all of her friends. She never wanted to marry me, I think that's what I'm realizing. She wanted to marry a successful doctor that could hang on her arm at galas and revel in the power couple dynamic. Makes me feel kind of stupid for ever wanting to marry her, really."

"Well, you're definitely better than being somebody's trophy nerd," I assured him. "It's good that you ended things so you could realize what she was really after before you actually married her."

"Yeah," he swirled the ice around his cup and watched the brown liquid swish around the glass. "I wish it didn't take four years though."

"It was just part of your life journey," I said with a little shrug.

He didn't respond for a while and then eventually said, "I'm sorry you got stood up by your date. What an asshole."

"It's fine, it actually turned into a really fun night. My enchiladas turned out fantastic. Natalie came over, we had a drunk photo shoot, danced around. It was fun." The bartender returned with my beer and I took a slow sip.

"A photo shoot?" he wondered.

"Yeah, it was Natalie's suggestion, because I got all dressed up for the date and we didn't want it to go go waste," I explained to him with a little shrug.

"This is the same guy that you went on a date with last weekend?" he wondered curiously. "When you were wearing that black dress?"

"Yeah, same guy," I confirmed.

He shook his head at me and said, "Dumbest guy on the planet."

I just started to laugh, mostly nervous laughter, as I gripped my beer hard in my first. "Can't win 'em all, I guess. It's no big deal."

"He was too stupid for you anyway. Can I see the pictures from your photo shoot?"

I flashed through all of the failed attempts at being sexy, and the ones that actually did turn out kind of sexy, and thought that sounded like a very bad idea. "Absolutely not," I cackled with laughter.

"Why not?" he looked disappointed.

I shook my head at him and said, "No way. Don't look at me like that."

"But I'm going through a breakup, Josie," he reminded me as he started to pout his bottom lip and although he was trying to make himself look sad, all I could think about was how badly I wanted to lean over and bite that lip. "I'm heart broken and the only thing that could possibly cheer me up is to see those photos."

"That is so manipulative," I laughed loudly at his dramatic statement that I knew was a lie.

He offered me a wide, boyish grin that I don't think even the most stubborn of people could say no to for long. "Is it working?"

I shook my head, looking away. "Nope."

Casey closed his eyes and then started to threaten me with, "Okay, well I'm just going to picture them in my head then, and I bet whatever I'm imagining is so much more embarrassing than the real thing. In my head, you're picking your nose and wearing a clown costume."