$5 Gas and a Talking Pet: I Should’ve Known

Dear Lasha,

Good morning, lovely. How are you this morning? So, question, remember when I wrote you last about “friends” that were toxic and “ghosty”? Well, I would like to talk about one of them. We went to school together and we were not that close. I think the reason why we were friends is because we liked the same things and wanted to do the same things but went about it differently. So, I was at a college that I do wish I had gone to years ago, but the timing wasn’t right and not that much encouragement either. We meet with him and his group of friends from a class. Don’t get me wrong, out of all his group of friends, I did enjoy one of his friends, who is a girl. Back on the story, I had to leave college due to how far I had to drive, not having enough money to use for gas, having no job, and being a young parent with little help to pick up my child.

We started hanging out together and eventually started living together as friends. Before me moving in though, I should’ve known that something doesn’t feel right. Here’s a list of why:

1. He asked to come move in with him and I was ok with that. Why did I feel like something wasn’t right? Because a week before I was supposed to move in, I was over there hanging out with him and he told me “Since you will be staying here, you must clean up the house.” Keep in mind, he was the reason why that house was a mess. A day before I had to move in, he called me and told me “I’m sorry bro, I changed my mind about you moving in with me.” I was pissed because I had already changed schools for my kid and our stuff was packed. He did let me move in though, but a week after my kid’s start date for school.

2. Barley does not let anyone sleep because he feels the need to talk to someone early in the morning around 1 am because he is bored!

3. Been looked down on by him and his friends, but they were the same ones that was asking me for rides to go to places, giving me $5 worth of gas for 65.3 miles. (The math is not adding up)

4. We got into a big argument, and he said that to me “I wish I never let you move in! You don’t help me out with taking me to school or anything! Why would I need a friend like you” Really? I’m the bad guy? Oh so, I guess you were such an angel to deal with at the time. I just loved waking up between the hours of 1:00–3:00 am to talk about nonsense, even though I must take wake up at 5:45 am to make sure my child is up, eating, brushing their teeth, washing their face, making sure that everything is ready and to be at the bus stop at 6:15 am. I must be the bad guy for not taking you to school because we both know class starts at 9 am and you don’t want to get up on time to go to school and you expect me to sit there until you get up at 10 am and say “Oh, I’m not going to school.” Really? I canceled my mornings to go earn some money to help with this and you know that I make plans with my child is at school. You sit there and get mad at me because I am not making time for you in MY schedule to accommodate your needs. Oh and to be clear, I know you are saying “Were you two dating?” No, we were not!

Then after I left, I forgave him, but I didn’t forget. He has a new spot now and asked me to come over and speed the night. The next morning he says “My ‘pet of the week’ said that you’ve overstayed your welcome, and you need to leave.” Really? An animal said that. Crazy, I guess we live in a world where animals speak perfect English. Now, he sees why I barely call or even hang out with him.

What made me cut him off though is because when I’m down on my luck, he was nowhere there like how a friend is supposed to be. The words that I hear from him are, “Oh, you know? Maybe it’s time for me to be by myself and do stuff for myself. You made me realize that.” That’s crazy. That’s hilarious! So, when you were going through something and waking me up all times of night by messing with me, making a lot of noises, wanting to talk about “I would date black girls, but y’all don’t have nothing going for yourselves, but I’ll date anyone else” Sidebar: Love is love, do you, but don’t put down any other race while you’re loving someone else. Everyone has flaws because we are human. Nobody is perfect.

I do understand that, back then, I wanted to be friends with everyone like a puppy, but now, I am completely fine with finding better friends and cutting people off. Except for you Lasha, hahahaha, you know too much. I will be writing back soon though, hopefully, I keep up with the writing this time. I hope this letter made you laugh and wonder why I did those things. Love you mean it!

Love,

Me