The Ex Effect — The Failed Meeting

A day before the first day of college, Derek, my online boyfriend, tells me he played a game of Dice Heist with his friends and lost me to Nathan. I think it's just another stupid joke of his, but in the next moment, my phone buzzes repeatedly. I am added to a gaming group chat with over a hundred fresh... Before I have a chance to leave the group, Derek sends an old Heist photo of me.

In the photo, I am wearing a t-shirt that's tightly stretched around me, my neck practically disappearing into my shoulders. It is the absolute last version of myself I ever want anyone to see. Yet, Derek is parading the photo to all our future classmates like it's a trophy. How is that someone's girlfriend?

I reckon Nathan's going to have to drive a pickup truck to get her tomorrow. I heard one of the challenges is to hold her in a bridal carry for 10 seconds. Are you trying to send Nathan straight to the ER? Easy, guys. Let's not actually make her cry.

It may look like he's defending me, but he knows better than anyone else what my greatest fear is. We've been dating online for 11 months. Whenever he couldn't sleep, I stayed up all night gaming with him. Whenever he lost a game, I reviewed it with him and coaxed him into getting back online.

When college applications made him too angst to fall asleep, I sent him voice notes every day to encourage him. I even made Redwood College my first choice because of a passing remark he I want to get into Redwood University.

I promise I'll come see you with a bouquet of flowers when school starts. But the day before our first in-person meeting, he failed to show up with