Welcome To August

New Town

I've been struggling, these last few months. The break up with Jake has been harder than I ever could have imagined. I know none of this should have surprised me. But we had been in each others lives for so long, that it is hard to imagine what life will look like without him.

When I found the messages  I chose to believe that they where nothing. That it was just a joking series of messages between friends. Then I found them in our bed. He was kissing her. Her breasts. Licking his way down her navel. And then he was their... Kissing her so intimately in the place only lovers go. It made my heart hurt.

Jake would never go down on me. I asked, but he said it was something he wasn't comfortable with. Clearly that was bullshit. I did it for him a lot. He said it made him feel connected and loved by me. How could he do it to a women he has only know for a year, he has nearly known me forever, we have been together forever. Well we had been together.

I have to wonder now. If because we had been together so long, maybe he was bored? I know I wasn't I was probably even more attracted to him now than when we where younger. And interlectually I feel like we where always learning more about each other.

I guess I was seeing it all wrong...

Behind me a car beeps their horn and I realise that the light has turned green. With a quick check in the rearview mirror I move the car forward and continue to drive away. Leaving my past in the dust behind me.

***

After ten hours if driving I reach the outskirts of August. An array of lifestyle blocks and farms line the road, and the homes begin to light up as evening decends.

August itself was larger than I thought. The main street is lined with shops: cafes, restraunts, supermarkets  and a church. Their was even a bar and bookshop. As I turn down a side street I pass the school I will begin teaching at on Monday,  August Central, a school that covers all years of education.

It's a little daunting starting a new job so quickly. I'll only have the weekend to prepare and I have to unpack and set up my new place. Taking a right I arrive on Jack street. The name makes me cringe and my heart tightens. But I force myself to count the house numbers until I reach 15 and turn into the drive.

With a sigh of frustration I realise my land lord is yet to arrive. Checking the time I see it is seven o'clock. I'm half an hour early, so I settle into my set to wait.