Bridge Over Troubled Water

Nine

Nodding my head, I thought back to when they were together realizing it had been a minute since they were together. "Wow, why is that? Not to be in your business or anything, but was the break up bad to the point it kind of scarred you from finding love again?" I questioned.

"The break up wasn't messy, but the relationship was a little toxic I guess you can say." He cleared his throat, before proceeding to explain.

"When we broke up we both came to a mutual understanding and reflected on ourselves far as what we could have done better, what our flaws were and different things we needed to work on as people." He explained.

"So, the next woman I plan to be with I want her to receieve the best version of myself mentally, physically and emotionally. Now I do dab around a little and hook up with some people from time to time, but nothing too major."

I nodded, understanding. "Do you ever see you guys getting back together one day?" I asked simply curious.

Laughing a little, he took a sip of his drink. "Nah, that ship has crashed and sunk. We're still good friends and we talk every now and then. She's at a good place in her life now, and I feel I am too. She's an amazing woman don't get me wrong, but I don't believe we were made for each other."

Playing with one of my fries, I sighed. "How does one even know if or when a person is made for them?" I scoffed, before tossing the fry into my mouth.

"I think it all depends on how you feel whenever that person is around and of course how they make you feel as well." He explained. "Like for example, how do you feel when you're with Terry?"

I shrugged. "Good. but at the sametime scared a little bit. But I think that's because as much as I love being in love and love the meaning of what love is, love scares me." I admitted not believing we were really having this conversation right now.

Duke looked at me slightly confused. "Why is that? Love can be a very beautiful thing when it's shown and given correctly."

"I know that, but what about the bad side of love?"

"Bad? If it's a bad side to it then I don't believe that's truly love. I always hated when people would say love hurts, love only hurts when it's one sided so basically you're the only one giving the love but if you were receiving the love back in return it wouldn't hurt." He expressed making me think a little.

"I think that's my problem, a lot of times in relationships I was the one who loved harder and it was like it was never reciporcated. I always ended up hurt, left with no explanation, cheated on, used and the list goes on."

"Those are not examples of what love is, Alex. When a person loves someone they won't do things that they know would hurt that person, they won't do things to break that trust with that person. It's kind of like when people have dreams that they love and believe in they are going to invest time, energy, committment, dedication and love into that dream to make sure it comes true one day. So I feel it's the same when a person truly loves someone they're going to invest their time, their energy, and be committed and dedicated to make sure their partner knows that they love them and want the relationship to work."

"And it's clear that's what you do, so use that as your reason not to fear love. Use it as your reason to love it and embrace it, because it's always someone out there who loves the exact same way you love and that could be Terry."

Sitting there a little lost for words, I looked down not expecting to be read down like that. Despite my stubborness to admit he was speaking facts, everything he said was absolutely correct.

Maybe my view on love was wrong and instead of focusing on the bad of what a person can do when they aren't in love, I should focus on what people do when they are.