Of course, after I got rid of my physical baggage from my relationship with Adam, it took months before he was out of my mind. At the time, sorting through my emotions was one of the most difficult things I had to go through. But looking back on it now, it was just one step in many to come of my dating life.
Although my emotions were a wreck, I knew it was important to keep doing well in school, keep writing for the newspaper, and keep up with some sort of social life. I was still working at A&F, where my coworkers were still getting to know me.
I didn’t know it then, but right when I returned from my trip to IU, a new relationship was peaking right around the corner…
My flight into Baton Rouge came in late. So late, in fact, that nothing was open in the airport. No coffee shops, no restaurants, not even any attendants at the airline desks.
I was waiting for my luggage to arrive, along with the people from my flight, and someone who looked familiar—Austin.
He worked with be at A&F. I hadn’t talked to him much at all. I knew people thought he was an asshole, and because I didn’t know any better, I assumed he was.
For that idea alone, I wanted to avoid him. But there was all but twenty of us waiting in the baggage claim. And when he made eye contact with me, I knew there was no way out.
He asked me how I was and told me he went on a trip for his landscape architecture class. I told him I went to visit my boyfriend. He got his luggage shortly after, I told him I’d see him at work, and I stood, waiting for my bags {which never came}.
When I saw him at work a few days later, we folded shirts together. I was already in a shitty mood because of the way Adam was acting. But I tried to blame my frustration on the missing luggage.
Over the course of five months, my friendship with Austin didn’t grow. He always had a girlfriend who he was either making out with at work, or working like a dog, with his iPod headphones stuck in his ears.
But one day, in early March, Austin caught me in the stockroom. And he asked me on a date.
The Bitter Lemon 