Teens and Dating: The Breakup

Daughter to Mom

Endless Love: One
Jaimey's mother knocked again on her door. When was the last time her daughter had been home on a weekend night? That wasn't the only odd thing happening these days. She guessed it had something to do with Jaimey's being a second-semester senior and the breakup days earlier with her first serious boyfriend, Corey. She still wasn't sure why they split. Reading between the lines suggested that it was Jaimey's initiative. Whatever the reason, it had been quiet in her room for hours now, since dinner, and here it was past eleven. She knocked once more. Still no answer. She didn't want to panic, but she opened the door anyway, her heart racing.

Jaimey was in her sweats, lying curled on top of her bed, listening to music with her headphones on and her eyes closed.

"Sorry," her mom gasped. She felt self-conscious, too, since she never entered her daughter's room without permission. "I've been knocking."

"What!" Jaimey shouted.

Her mother pointed to the earphones and Jaimey pulled them off.

"Sorry," Jaimey said, "I was spacing out."

"Sorry I barged in on you."

"Come sit," said Jaimey, and she patted the bedspread by way of invitation. Her mother complied.

"What are you listening to?" Her mother didn't recognize the CD. Then again, she didn't expect to.

Jaimey looked confused. "I have no idea. Something Pita gave me, said it helped her when she broke up with Neils. You'd think somebody named Pita would never break up with somebody named Neils, wouldn't you? Anyway, so far I haven't figured out how anything could help."

"You want to talk?"

"I just need to be miserable for a while. Tomorrow, maybe."

Her mom placed her hand over her daughter's and kept it there.

"Mom, you ever make a decision, without ever realizing you made a decision till after you start doing things like you already made a decision?"

"Not sure, though probably. Sometimes things fall into place without our being exactly conscious of how or when."

"You can color me surprised. I had no idea I was going to break up with Corey. I did break up with him, didn't I? Things had gotten a little stale: we were just doing the same old things with each other, not like when we began seeing each other. But is that a reason to break up? If you ask me, I don't even know if I wanted to. I just did. I love him, much as I ever did. What's that supposed to mean?"

"Have you two talked?"

"Does it count that he called up and screamed into my ear for fifteen minutes till I hung up? And then he called back and apologized?"

"I don't know. It's tough. It'll take time; you guys were together for a long time."

"Tell me about it. I feel like I chopped my own arm off, and it's like still there, throbbing, the old phantom limb. What was it like when you got divorced?"

Jaimey's mom clasped her hands together and sighed. She had been married once before, right out of college, but she and Jaimey's dad had been together for almost twenty years now. Part of her sympathized with her daughter's ordeal with Corey. Part of her fantasized that Jaimey and Corey would stay together after graduation, even though she was a realist and knew the odds were long. Another part of her was almost relieved to know they had broken up before college. Jaimey could meet new people, enjoy a new life away from home and all that she had known. How come being sensible was always at war with being in love?

"It was pretty bad at the time. I was surprised at how difficult it was, though at the same time getting the divorce was the best thing for me—for both of us actually. I'm happier now than I could have ever imagined back then."

"You got over it, right?"

"But it still hurts to think about, like when you just asked me."

"Right. How come I feel like that'll never happen to me, that I'll never get over it? And at the same time I'm more sure than ever that we shouldn't still be going out."

"Because that's what you're supposed to feel now. On the one hand, breaking up was the right thing to do. And on the other, it causes more sadness and pain than you ever bargained for."

"No lectures, Mom. I feel lousy enough."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to, honey."

"Want to go out tomorrow, Mom? Lunch, or something?"

"Sure. That would be nice."

"OK, maybe if I'm in the mood I'll join you."

"Very funny. Good to see you smiling like the old Jaimey."

"Hey, you know what I miss? His sisters. They were almost like my sisters. And I miss the way the sun feels when I'm with him, and I miss the way the air tastes, and the way my skin sings. I love how time slows down with him and . . . Do you think I'm weird?"

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