Hades36
New member
There is a great scene in the movie Fight Club when the main character, played by Ed Norton, has a life-changing self-realization. His face fills the screen, big the way gods are big, and his voiceover says, "Ladies and Gentlemen, please return your seats to the full, upright position." In that one moment, the entire plot jackknifes off the Pretty-Normal-Highway and explodes in a fireball of OMFG-What's-Happening-Here?
Last night my wife (PLove) and I went out dancing and drinking with Tess and her periodic boyfriend, Jack. Short backstory: I cheated on Plove with Tess, no sex. (I get that doesn't make a difference, because emotional infidelity is just as, if not more, damaging than physical.) Tess and I fell in love; short affair, started, ended, started again. PLove said drop, stop, and roll, or else I'm leaving; I concede.
Tess wants to meet my Plove just to clear the air, clean the karmic debt, discuss the trainwreck of me. They go out for dinner one night and
"Ladies and Gentlemen, please return your seats to the full, upright position."
when Plove returns she says, "If it wasn't for you having cheated with her, I would say that I've just met my new best friend."
The next day, Tess calls and suggests we all go out for drinks, try to rebuild bridges, heal the wounds, get everything out on the table, and see if there is a possibility for all of us (Jack included) to... Hell, I'm not really sure WHAT we were supposed to do. I guess we were all just trying not to let all of this turn into a sequel to "We Don't Live Here Anymore."
Before the end of the night Ladies and Gentlemen, please return your seats to the full, upright position the women had made out, then all three of us made out, then Jack tried hooking up with PLove and failed. Then I got drunk. Then Tess told PLove that she had strong feelings for her, and that they had started the moment she had seen her when they went out for drinks.
Then we all (sans Jack) talked about becoming a... I don't know what you would call us... triad? No, not a Chinese criminal organization but... this is where my brain starts to ache... I think we would all be together in a relationship of sorts, or that Tess would date both of us together, or something.
This all feels really weird, surreal, and somehow also really normal and healthy. I had a lot of cognitive dissonance slamming my psyche while watching PLove and Tess dance, hold hands, and kiss.
Okay, let me share this with you all, it was the moment when the plot jackknifed for me:
I was sitting alone while PLove and Tess went to the restroom. Jack was standing in line at the bar. PLove and Tess come running up to me, holding onto each other and laughing. Tess says, "(drowned by music and crowd noise) We made out in the bathroom! It was so hot! I am so excited. It was so intense. I just don't know what this means!" I THOUGHT she was talking about Jack, saying that they had gone in the restroom and kissed, that she was excited because maybe that meant he would go from being Periodic to being Constant.
But then Plove looks at me and says, "Are you OK with this, baby? Are you angry with me?" That's when Ladies and Gentlemen, please return your seats to the full, upright position I realized that what Tess had been trying to yell over the crowd and booming music was that she and my WIFE had just made out in the restroom. Ellipses can be cruel.
Last night my wife (PLove) and I went out dancing and drinking with Tess and her periodic boyfriend, Jack. Short backstory: I cheated on Plove with Tess, no sex. (I get that doesn't make a difference, because emotional infidelity is just as, if not more, damaging than physical.) Tess and I fell in love; short affair, started, ended, started again. PLove said drop, stop, and roll, or else I'm leaving; I concede.
Tess wants to meet my Plove just to clear the air, clean the karmic debt, discuss the trainwreck of me. They go out for dinner one night and
"Ladies and Gentlemen, please return your seats to the full, upright position."
when Plove returns she says, "If it wasn't for you having cheated with her, I would say that I've just met my new best friend."
The next day, Tess calls and suggests we all go out for drinks, try to rebuild bridges, heal the wounds, get everything out on the table, and see if there is a possibility for all of us (Jack included) to... Hell, I'm not really sure WHAT we were supposed to do. I guess we were all just trying not to let all of this turn into a sequel to "We Don't Live Here Anymore."
Before the end of the night Ladies and Gentlemen, please return your seats to the full, upright position the women had made out, then all three of us made out, then Jack tried hooking up with PLove and failed. Then I got drunk. Then Tess told PLove that she had strong feelings for her, and that they had started the moment she had seen her when they went out for drinks.
Then we all (sans Jack) talked about becoming a... I don't know what you would call us... triad? No, not a Chinese criminal organization but... this is where my brain starts to ache... I think we would all be together in a relationship of sorts, or that Tess would date both of us together, or something.
This all feels really weird, surreal, and somehow also really normal and healthy. I had a lot of cognitive dissonance slamming my psyche while watching PLove and Tess dance, hold hands, and kiss.
Okay, let me share this with you all, it was the moment when the plot jackknifed for me:
I was sitting alone while PLove and Tess went to the restroom. Jack was standing in line at the bar. PLove and Tess come running up to me, holding onto each other and laughing. Tess says, "(drowned by music and crowd noise) We made out in the bathroom! It was so hot! I am so excited. It was so intense. I just don't know what this means!" I THOUGHT she was talking about Jack, saying that they had gone in the restroom and kissed, that she was excited because maybe that meant he would go from being Periodic to being Constant.
But then Plove looks at me and says, "Are you OK with this, baby? Are you angry with me?" That's when Ladies and Gentlemen, please return your seats to the full, upright position I realized that what Tess had been trying to yell over the crowd and booming music was that she and my WIFE had just made out in the restroom. Ellipses can be cruel.
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