Shelley and Gerard (part 2)
Shelley and Gerard dated for about two months, then she moved in with him. He didn't want her to, not really, and he protested a lot, but she was determined. She would take the small back bedroom (mainly for her books and records) and he was getting a live-in cook and cleaner as well as someone to help with the rent, so why was he bitching about it? So he gave in, eventually.
Shelley's parents weren't happy, of course. They thought it was far too early for her to be moving out, and certainly too early to be cohabiting, and they worried she'd drop out of uni and ruin her life. The way Shelley saw it, if she didn't get away from her folks quick-smart her life was ruined anyway, so she might as well move in with Gerard as a sort of starter, and if their relationship didn't work out, at least she'd had some kind of experience in a share household, and could go from there.
Living with Gerard didn't really change things a lot (except for having no nagging parents in the background) - she went to classes, went to work three days a week after class and on Saturdays, and the rest of the time she spent with Gerard, either at home or visiting his assorted workmates and friends. Drugs and alcohol were prevalent in these situations, but apart from her first joint, when she was desperate to impress (and failed miserably, because she'd never so much as smoked a cigarette before and didn't know how to inhale), she never felt pressure to imbibe, and nobody hassled her about it, so she was able to discover that her tolerance was minute and therefore nobody minded her scabbing off them.
Gerard's friends mostly thought Shelley was a phase he was going through, an early mid-life crisis, maybe. Shelley was able to make friends with some of his friends (or their wives, anyway) and thus carved out for herself a little niche, a comfortable space between the macho performances and the bad-taste jokes. She got a reputation as a good organiser and a fairly decent cook, so whenever there was a BBQ or a picnic, Shelley was in the thick of it, designating tasks and feeling useful.
Gerard would get emotional occasionally, after the right mix of dope, beer and greasy takeaway. On no less than three of these occasions he proposed marriage. The first time Shelley was so touched she cried. Gerard cried too. He said he'd never find another girl like Shelley, and to hell with the age difference... love was more important. Since this was the first time he'd ever mentioned the word, she dared to be hopeful. Unfortunately, in the morning, he changed his mind. Shelley didn't want to hassle him about it so she gave him a bit of space, thinking he'd change his mind back when he saw she wasn't clamouring for a ring or a big announcement. But he didn't. It was a good six weeks before he proposed again, and then he at least apologised for having retracted the proposal the first time. Then, in the morning, "I didn't mean it. You know that, right?" The final time was a few months later. After that she decided she wouldn't marry him, no matter how many times he asked, whether he eventually produced a ring or not.
Shelley tried to be a good live-in girlfriend: she did the laundry, washed dishes, cooked a bit (the stove was ancient and only one burner worked, so it was a bit of a hassle), usually did his ironing, gave everything a good clean at least once, tried to always be ready with a smile when he walked in the door... but Gerard was chafing from the constant attention, so after seven months together, the relationship began to unravel. It started with Gerard announcing he was going to have more "boys' nights out" than before. Shelley was actually secretly relieved - it meant she could do more productive study at home (it's hard to concentrate on Hobbes when someone is playing bad German porn very loudly in the next room).
The next stage began with Gerard presenting Shelley with a cat. They had been talking about getting a cat, but Shelley knew it would be something to fight about (whose turn was it to feed/clean up after it, etc), and thus never committed to an actual acquisition. And here was Gerard giving her a cat. She sort-of knew what this meant - he wanted to distract her, give her something other than him to pay attention to, but whether it was so he could pick fights when he felt neglected or so he could supposedly sneak off more while she was busy with the cat, she wasn't sure.
The final stage built up very slowly over several months, so they broke up after not quite eleven months together. They'd gone out with another couple, for dinner, then to a nightclub, then back to Gerard's for a bit of a smoke and to watch whatever crappy video he'd hired lately. Shelley was in the middle of writing a very difficult essay and hadn't wanted to go out, but had been persuaded (so their friends wouldn't think she was being a bitch, basically). She was relieved to be home again and retreated into the back room with her books. Meantimes Gerard and the friends watched a late music show, talked loudly and got very stoned. At 3am Shelley ventured out to ask if they might think about going home. They nodded, mumbled some kind of apology, and she made a point of saying goodnight and went to bed. At 4am they were still there, and Shelley totally lost it and came out screaming.
Several hours later Gerard told her they were over and he would help her move back home providing she behaved like a decent human being. She was outraged - it wasn't she who needed behavioural modifcation (she had been insanely patient with him, which was obviously part of the problem). Also, she didn't want to go back to her parents' house, but didn't yet have enough saved to put down bond and advance rent in a share house. Gerard steadfastly refused to back down on throwing her out, so her parents had one week's notice to get everything out of her old room.
Having started the relationship able to hold herself partly in reserve she had now gone to the very other end of the scale and was a snivelling wreck. She loved him, he didn't love her. Her heart was broken, he didn't care. Her parents were going to have so much fun rubbing her nose in, well, everything.