bonus track: the manuscript (rojie’s version)

LINK: bonus track: the manuscript (rojie’s version)

The first and final draft.

Next month, I’ll be heading to the Lone Star State, Texas for a conference. It’s a land of wide-open spaces, delicious BBQ, and the potential for unexpected encounters. There’s a small chance that I might accidentally bump into my ex and old roomie while I’m there. And let’s just say, I’m not exactly thrilled about the prospect.

When I left Texas and moved back to California, I thought I had left all the drama behind. But fate has a funny way of bringing people back together, especially when the conference I’ll be attending happens to be in the same city where my ex’s parents and former roommate live. Talk about a cosmic coincidence.

You see, I was dealing with one of the most overbearing roommates known to mankind. Let’s call her Julie. Julie had a knack for making our lives miserable. She would demand that we pay for things we had no part in, like the electric bill when she insisted on running the AC all day with the windows wide open. Who does that? And no, I didn’t want to pay for that nonsense.

Julie was a tyrant, a screaming, shit-throwing tornado of chaos. She wanted to party all the time and get fucked up beyond belief. It was toxic, to say the least. So when my bf at the time offered to have me and my other roommate (Yummy) move in with him, it felt like a breath of fresh air.

But little did I know, the drama was far from over. In the middle of the night, my friends from Chicago, who were in town for a visit, decided to stage a covert operation. I snuck them into our apartment, packed all my belongings into large plastic black bags, and threw them down from the balcony. It was like a scene from an action movie, except instead of saving the world, we were saving ourselves from the clutches of Julie.

For years, the three of us lived together in a stable environment. But then, Yummy, decided she wanted to move back to Chicago. Suddenly, I found myself drowning in loneliness, even though I was dating and living with Paulerino.

Depression started to creep in, and I felt lost. So when Paulerino popped the question (maybe he thought it would cheer me up), I said yes, even though deep down, I wasn’t sure if it was what I truly wanted. It was more about doing what was expected of me (by society and our parents) than anything else. But as luck would have it, we didn’t end up tying the knot. I called off the wedding just a week before the big day.

Let me tell you, canceling a wedding so soon to the wedding date was a cluster fuck. I lost a shit ton of money in the process. I had to sell my house at a loss and say goodbye to all those non-refundable deposits for venues and caterers. I lost nearly $80,000 in this fiasco. It was a hot fucking mess. I wanted to run away.  Flee.  And never look back.

So I packed up my car and drove all the way to California, ready to set new roots and reconnect with my extended family in the West. Along the way, Paulerino’s mom kept calling me, but I couldn’t bring myself to answer. I let the calls go to voicemail, and when I finally listened to her message, it hit me right in the feels.

But by then, I had come too far to turn back. My next life was waiting for me, and I was determined to live my best life, free from the shackles of the past. And as for those family members of my ex who still follow me on Instagram, well, who knows why they’re there? Maybe they’re just curious about how I’m doing, or maybe they’re playing the role of the family spies. Either way, I don’t really care anymore.  I’ve moved on with my life and I can’t be worried or bothered about what they’re doing.