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Chapter Three: Familiar Face

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"Sure," I gulped, "But it's a little graphic."

"Don't worry about that. Nothing we haven't all done."

"True," I said. "Basically, there was a video." And immediately Sierra cringed, placing her head in her hand. "Not a fucking video."

I nodded, pursing my lips, "Yup."

"Essentially what happened was Ax--" I almost said his name but instantly corrected myself. "He, had told me all these things. About how I was his first kiss, first everything, and how he'd never done so much as look at another girl romantically or intimately before." I looked down at my hands. "And of course, he was my first as well, and so naturally we grew very attached to each other. We loved each other," I rolled my eyes, "Well, as much love as 17 year-olds are even capable of."

"Love is love. I don't believe age really matters," She said. I looked back up at her but not for long as I took another sip of my drink, finishing it off. "I suppose so. And I'd like to think that maybe our love was one sided. And I was more in love with him than he was me. But I don't know. I feel like he loved me just as much... And that just made it worse. Because he loved me so much, so how could he do that?" I looked up at her again. 

She only nodded, sighing. "So what about the video, then?"

I laughed, "Right, the video. Well, right after I left for college. Literally as I was on the plane, after A--" I almost said his name again, and tried hard to correct myself in hopes she wouldn't catch it, because I was now a bit tipsy, "Right after he'd convinced me the entire night before to do long-distance with him. After swearing we could make it work, and that I'd have nothing to worry about because he'd never be disloyal to me. After..." I paused, but said it anyway, "After he'd literally had the most intimate, unbelievably loving sex with me the that night." I cringed at my own words and saw Sierra shake her head. 

 "And on the plane I got sent messages from a girl. A girl who he'd assured me he wasn't interested in at all. The messages said that she had something to show me, and that she was sorry." I shrugged, "And you know, I'm actually quite grateful to her because without her I'd never know." 

Sierra nodded, "Yes. No matter what she did with him, she did the right thing ultimately. It was good of her to tell you." I nodded as I agreed. 

"I'd rather not say what the video was because if I'm quite honest, I can't even remember it clearly. I deleted it the second after I saw it. And then I blocked him. And I never saw or spoke to him ever again. And well, now I'm here," I sucked in a sharp breath, "I'm here, and because of his immature, dumb mistake, I can't commit to anyone anymore." 

She looked at me, placing her delicate hand on my shoulder, "That is horrible. But you know, whoever this guy is, he's out of your life now. And you're here in a new city, with new people. Don't be stuck on him. Like I said, it's great that you're focused on your career and all. But don't let what he did to you-- which mind you is possibly the most horrid thing that could've been done-- stop you from caring about someone again. People out there are untrustworthy assholes, for sure. But not everybody is." She let her hand fall from my shoulder and tilted her head, looking me in the eyes, "And soon somebody is gonna come around and heal you, and make you see that not everyone makes the mistakes that your ex did." 

I nodded. "Thank you so much. And you know what, I've actually never told anyone any of that before." 

"It makes me really happy that you felt comfortable enough to tell me that. I'm honored." She smiled and I laughed. "What happened is just straight up evil, but your life interests me. And I think you have a lot more, happier, stories that I'd love to hear too." She said, "But don't get me wrong, I'm 100% hear to listen and be nosy about more of you're bad experiences, too. If you want to tell me."