Goodbye

OH. MY. GOD. This was SO not the plan.

Last week, I got a message from an ex. He is moving away and wanted to get together for dinner. ohgod. I agreed, tentatively, to meet him for dinner last night.

Without going into all the details, let me give a little backstory. We met online, and I am not even sure how. He lived far, far away, but we made it work for almost a year. We would be on the phone for hours every night, (thank god for free nights) and managed to see each other every 3-4 weeks. Our relationship progressed, as most do, and I was in love for the first time, but it was hard.

During one all night phone conversation we were discussing a little bit of everything and got around to future plans. Through a lot of tears we realized that our paths were never going to lead us in the same direction. Although we adored each other and were perfect together, it was never going to get better. We agreed that, even though we loved each other, we should put things on hold. It was very hard at first...especially explaining to others why we weren't together anymore. Over the next year, we still talked to each other 2-3 times a week and would kind of plan to be in the same places at the same time. We would call each other when we were dating someone...it still felt like cheating.

So, I came home from work one day last week to an IM from him. He is moving again...to even farther, far away. It's a great opportunity for him and I am so happy for him. He wanted to get together for dinner before he left. Odds are we won't see each other again, and he wanted to get together one last time.

He got into town last night about an hour after I got home from work...at least I got a shower. We had a great dinner (and shared tiramisu for dessert, yummy) and went out for a drink. We met back at his hotel in the bar and sat for hours, talking about everything...and finally we were the last ones there. Instead of going home, he asked me if I wanted to go back to his room for another drink. When we got to his room I realized it had been in the works all along. On the table were a dozen red roses and a bottle of champagne on ice. (I had been played, lol) We poured the champagne and went to the window...he had a great view of downtown and Purdue across the river. We each had 2 glasses of champagne and settled in bed to watch TV.

It was the perfect night. We had a fantastic dinner, yummy dessert, fun drinks, and great talk. It started getting late and I heard thunder in the distance. I have been craving a good thunderstorm for a while now, so I went to the window. Looking up the hill into West Lafayette, I could actually see the lightning and rain coming across campus and downtown. He walked up behind me and whispered in my ear, "Wanna go play in the rain?" He knows me so well...we spent almost an hour walking the streets downtown, stealing kisses on street corners, in a perfect thunderstorm. We went back to his room and he asked if I wanted to take a shower. A couple minutes went by and I heard the door open. As he pulled back the curtain he said, "I had to get out of those wet clothes...mind if I get in?" To avoid getting into 'pervy internet story' territory, I will leave the rest to your imagination. It was the perfect goodbye.

This morning, he walked me down to the lobby and kissed me at the door. "We'll be farther apart than ever before, but we've never been closer."