I ran into a friend of mine today, that I hadn't seen in months. Chris has been gone to college, and after that he has been spending a lot of time with his girlfriend.
They started dating a year ago. At first I was thrilled for Chris. No longer could he complain that he was going to end up going to college without every having had a girlfriend or having kissed a girl. It was a nice change also to the fact that last girl he had liked, had treated him awful. She hadn't even had the courtesy to politely tell him she didn't like him. All this thrown together and I was all in favor of him having a girlfriend.
I was close friends with Chris. Our two year age difference made little difference. The only strange thing was that I was best friends with his younger sister, who was my age. This hardly ever posed a problem, until later on in Chris's relationship with his girlfriend, Jenny.
Chris seemed genuinely happy with Jenny. At times she was all he talked about. The next fall I had some classes with Jenny. She too talked often about Chris. She never (or so I hope) full understood all I knew about her and Chris. With Chris away at college, I made an easy confidante. As long as I didn't tell his sister or his parents, he had little worry. I never did tell them anything.
Later on, rumors began to circulate in school. There was talk that Jenny was a lesbian. Close friends of her's told me that this was true. These were friends I trusted and knew where not lying. Chris's sister asked me if the rumors were true? Did Chris know? I didn't know what to say.
How was I suppose to tell Chris? Even though everyone said that she no longer had these relations, it was a part of her past I felt Chris needed to know. I decided not to tell him. Later on, he told me that he knew and that they had talked about it. It was a phase or something.
As the year progressed, Chris began to allude to love and other things like that. He asked me for advice. I had had some serious boyfriends, and he needed some input. I wanted to tell him I thought he was getting too serious for his first girlfriend. But what did I know? Perhaps this was true love. I told him I wanted him to be happy. If he was happy, then he was doing the right thing.
Chris told me often about how much he loved her. I began to get to know Jenny better and realized that she too loved Chris. Perhaps my fears where without basis. Chris began to allude to marriage. Nothing serious. Just pondering about the rest of his life. I began to wonder if they really might get married one day.
There was talk that they might move in together this summer. Chris's parents were against it. She was not eighteen. They had said they would no longer talk to him if they did. He decided to come home for the summer and found a job.
I hadn't talked to him in months when I ran into him this morning. He was trying to find Jenny at the parade, but couldn't. He had suppose to go over to her house this morning but had over slept. I asked if he had called- no. He said something about a little fight and left to go look for her. I thought nothing of it. All people have fights.
His sister told me that they had been fighting for awhile now. And it was serious. I'm not sure what to do. I want to be there for him, but I haven't talked to him in so long. I guess I just have to wait and see what he decides. If he wants to talk to me, fine. I'm just afraid any advice he asks me to give will come out as a "I told you so", when it really isn't. I guess listening is the best idea.