The Best Love Triangle I Ever Had

Something about being in a love triangle boosts your ego. What's better than having to choose between two fun guys? I mean, did I really have to choose one or the other? Why couldn't I spend my days and nights with Alex, but still talk to Zach? Ok, ok. Yes, all throughout this "friends with benefits" situation, I still liked Zach, but anyone who has tried long-distance knows it's not a walk in the park, and our relationship never really got off the ground, which made it even more difficult. Impossible.

I was living in some sort of fantasy world, but the love triangle kept me distracted enough to not be freaking out about whatever non-committal relationship Alex and I had.

And then Alex and I took off to Pennsylvania for a summer of fun and sun and teenagers.  I had spent the previous summer in Pennsylvania at Camp Tioga, and I went back, so Alex tagged along.

But the downside was that I didn't get to talk to Zach.  Well maybe once a week through email, then texting or calling on my one day off a week.

So I got to camp and forgot about Zach, and tried to forget about Alex, too.

Alex and I went into camp actually trying to revoke the "friends with benefit" deal. Since I had been to camp before, I knew that there would be dozens of gorgeous British men itchin' some fun summer lovin'. All I really wanted was a British summer fling. Was that asking too much?

Of course, Alex wanted the same thing after he got a glimpse of the dozens of stunning British women. (You're probably wondering why all of the other counselors were British. It's a long story, but basically people across the pond travel a lot more than we do, and generally have more fun than we do, and come to America to party and play during the summer, at camp. It's a thing.)

These weren't just any British women. A lot of them were my friends from the year before, and they were scammin' on my man. A lot of them were fake blondes, so that automatically got me going. And on top of that, they were all sporty and fun and exotic with their proper accents. Sure I had my luscious, natural blonde locks, but it was impossible for me to compete.

Him flirting with these floozies just set me off, of course. Jealously isn't very flattering on me. I complained to my bunkmates about my obsession with Alex, which had manifested itself overnight. I was kicking myself in the head because I tried so hard to not have feelings.

My bunkmates got tired of me complaining. I got tired of hearing myself complain. So I decided to just lay it all out on the line. I pulled Alex aside one morning and gave him the ultimatum of all ultimatums.

Me: "Listen, I thought I could do this and I can't. So here's how it's going to go. You can either be with me, really be with me, or you can leave me alone completely."

Alex: "Oh.... Ok.... Well, let's try this then. Let's try the relationship thing."

Me: "What? Are you serious?"

Alex: "Sure, why not?"

Let me remind my readers that I had been successful this far because of my dedication to taking the relationship as it came. I had no intention of changing him, I just laid it all out. I went into the ultimatum ready for rejection. I knew that once I heard that rejection I could move on, but he completely surprised me.

It wasn't all gravy after that. We hit a few bumps, but I was surprised at how many times Alex surprised me after that. He never did what I expected.

This a photo for old time's sake. Me and teenage kids!
I had full responsibility over them for 8 weeks. :)