Prologue
Prologue
Have you ever had that one love that you never forgot about and cannot seem to find anyone else like that person? I know that I have once in my lifetime. We just grew apart because of me still being in college and then he got drafted into the NFL. Trust me, we did try to make it work out, but it just got too tough on both him and I. It just wasn’t possible with how little we saw each other or got to talk to one another. Timing for us just never lined out.
We did at least end things peacefully for the most part, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t painful as hell for either of us to go through. We vowed to speak in a few months when I got out of school, but the call never came and we both went on with our lives.
We grew up around each other and our family are still friends. After the split, I avoided family gatherings and still kind of do if he would be there. I just did not want to run into him. I feel like seeing him again would kill me.
My family, they are my life. I always looked forward to our gatherings, but I couldn’t if I knew I would see him or his parents. I think my family realized the reasoning and separated themselves from the King family for more family gatherings of just us. I honestly hate that my family even started to do that. The King’s have been a huge part of our lives and I think always will.
Maxx and I started dating in my Freshman Year of high school. Maxx was two years older than me so, when we started dating he was a Sophomore in high school. When he went off to Alabama to attend college, it was so tough on me. He was over 5 hours away from me here in Kentucky when he was at college. I still had two years of school left at that point. It was brutal, but we ended up making it work since we had somewhat of a similar school schedule. I did get to attend so many of his games because his family flew me out a lot to go see them. I was so thankful for his family allowing me to go see his games with them on the weekends so I was able to attend.
Finally, when I got to attend college, Maxx had two years left and had been the starting quarterback since his Sophomore year in college. He had already blown out several previous quarterbacks records and was absolutely on fire out there on that field. I was his personal cheerleader at every game. I had his number 11 and Maxx’s Girl on the back of my jersey at every game. Our relationship was great when I got to attend Alabama with him. We were in the same place which was amazing.
I knew he would get drafted fairly high in the draft and I knew it was coming and I already knew he had teams lining up to get him early on in his career at Alabama. There were several teams his senior year that were heavily scouting him. A few of those teams needed a new quarterback pretty quickly if he got drafted to the team and one or two of them had quarterbacks that either were in the hot seat or were in the talks of maybe retiring within a year or two. He might have to sit back a year and be the backup or third string for a team or two, but he would have a great career in the NFL regardless of where he went.
When the time came and draft day was upon us, I remember him being so nervous. I knew of a few teams he didn’t want to go to, but also he couldn’t choose that part he had to go with whoever drafted him. I remember sitting in the green room with him as his clammy hand kept linked with mine most of the time we sat there. He was taken in the first round. Thank god the teams he didn’t want went to another option.
He did end up going kind of where he wanted to go. He could possibly be able to start the next year and serve as backup for the current quarterback. That team though meant he was now thirty-one or so hours away from me. That was a slam to my gut. I knew then we would have to work extra hard to stay together. I was happy for him, but also sad about this new obstacle we had to face. We have already faced so much, and this would be the real test.
Well that time difference and distance really did do a number on us. It hurt me every time he asked me to come to a game but I wasn’t able to. Most of the time NFL games were on Sundays, Mondays, or Thursdays. Sometimes those days did not work with me because of school or my job. Most of the time during the week I had class when he had practice. He was always either too tired after or out with the guys working out or hanging out. I understand he was trying to get to know his team, which those guys were going to become another part of his family since he was now living in California with them and away from here.
The breakup we both knew was coming which was the bad part, but it was time. We both were so heartbroken and miserable in our relationship, it was for the best honestly. I thought I was going to die of heartbreak for a while there it was very tough.
It is never going to be easy, but it does get more manageable. Some good things came out of the break up though and I'll just have to power through and find myself again without him.
