After a few texts back and forth, Dinah didn't hear from him again. He was like every other guy who ever ghosted her, except that he was a persistent ghoster.
Until a year later when he texted her, wanting to talk again.
After that, he ghosted her again until the next year.What a letdown. She knew the drill: If a guy didn't text you for five days after a date, that's it. He lost interest. And that's exactly what happened except she had given him two weeks, hoping that the intense chemistry and imaginary fireworks exploding in her ear when he kissed her on the cheek meant something.
She guessed not. As she tapped on his number to delete it, she felt more angry than anything else. What a player.
Dinah didn't feel a single regret as his number and name disappeared from her phone from what she thought was forever.
"Okay, open up your books to page ninety-five. We are going to go over the specific battles of the Revolutionary War that you need to know for the test. It isn't easy, so get ready to take notes," Dinah said as she unscrewed the cap of her dry-erase marker and was getting ready to go through a lengthy and painful review for her fifth graders' test tomorrow.
Glancing at the clock, she only had 40 minutes to go through this. Taking into account student questions and clarifying any misunderstandings or misconceptions, she had to write definitions and draw visuals on the board fairly quickly before they had to go to lunch.
Ping.
Damn it. She forgot to silence her phone.
"Sorry, Excuse me," she said, as she put the marker down and went to click her phone on silent. Her brows furrowed in confusion as she saw she got a message through Facebook Messenger.
Facebook Messenger??
No one had sent her a message on Facebook for a couple of years. Actually, she didn't remember the last time she looked in it or updated anything on her profile. Though curiosity was killing her, she had twenty-something pairs of eyes staring at her, waiting for her to tell them what information they had to waste time this afternoon and night looking over with their parents before either passing or failing the exam tomorrow.
I'll look at it during my lunch break, she thought.
"Okay, who wants to start off by telling me the pros and cons of the British Army and Continental Army?"
Dinah smiled as more than ten arms shot up, ready to answer.
Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding.
"Awesome discussion guys. I know you'll do great on the test tomorrow," Dinah said, erasing the mess of writing and drawings she did on the board as her students, two by two, filed out of her classroom.
"See you at one. Have a good lunch."
The minute the last student walked out the door, Dinah organized her materials- putting out the science teacher manual on her desk for the afternoon's lesson, grabbed her lunch from the tiny fridge, and took out her phone.
She made sure first to take a huge bite of her chicken caesar salad before even looking at the message. Teachers only got forty minutes to have lunch at the most. And from experience, those forty minutes went by quicker than she would've liked. So multi-tasking it was.
As she opened up the Facebook Messenger app, her blood ran cold. There was a definite drop in the pit of her stomach, similar to the falling sensation one feels on a rollercoaster.
Dario.
After how many years, now he writes to her? And on Facebook of all places. He must have searched for her.
It was the simplest of messages- Hi.
Dinah took a deep breath, her thumb poised over the response box. She couldn't just not answer, even though that was the best thing to do. He was a jerk who ghosted her and now he contacts her three years later? She wasn't anyone's second choice; she deserved better than that.
She knew she was going to respond, but say what? Definitely not Hi back or How are you? It's so good to hear from you.
No, she was going to do what she was good at- give him a piece of her mind. There were many times when someone treated her badly and she was able to voice her feelings and opinions on what they did. Definitely not to their face, but through writing. Maybe she was a coward in that regard, but it was quicker and easier to give them a piece of your mind through texts or emails than through seeing them in person. On the phone, there was a 99% chance that they'll interrupt. And once they interrupt, she would lose her nerve completely.
But with Dario, there weren't many words that were needed.
Dinah: I have zero interest in talking to you again.
Dario: Why?
She rolled her eyes. Really?
Dinah: Because you never messaged me back after such a long time.
Dario: Sorry. I got back together with my ex.
Dinah knew she only went on one date with him. It wasn't a big deal.
It isn't a big deal. It isn't a big deal, she thought. You don't have to get hung up on this.
But her brain wasn't matching up with her heart. She was hurt. He chose someone else over her, and not just anyone, his ex- a woman who he ended a relationship with because of whatever issues. The fact that he would rather return to a relationship with her than see Dinah again hurt.
She drew a deep breath and took another bite of her salad, trying to see if focusing on her food would calm the sudden drop her stomach took at his words and the prickling sensation she felt all over her arms whenever she experienced disappointment like this.
She couldn't help it. She quickly typed out her response.
Dinah: So why are you messaging me if you're with her?
No freakin' way would she ever be a booty call. What an insult after what she shared with him on their date.
Dario: No, I'm single.
Dinah exhaled and then typed furiously.
Dinah: It doesn't matter. I texted you twice and you never responded. We were set to go out on a specific date the last time and you bailed.
Dario: I never ducked you. I just wasn't over my ex and we rekindled our relationship. Things like that happen.
Dinah: I get that, but you should've responded anyway and not leave me hanging. That was rude. Ducking?
Dario: Yeah, like ducking something. Avoiding you.
Dinah: You not responding is avoiding me.
Dario: So I guess you want to talk now?
Dinah: Why do you guess that?
Dario: Because you're talking to me now.
Dinah: I'm talking to you to give you a piece of my mind and to see what happened.
Dario: Well, I liked talking to you.
Dinah: Well, you should've pursued that and not let me go. I'm a pretty awesome person and you messed that up.
Dario: Like I said, I got back together with my ex. I still wasn't over her but we are done for sure.
Dinah: I wish you would've told me you weren't over her even before our date, then I wouldn't have wasted my time.
Dario: I didn't realize I wasn't. I really thought I was over her. I'd still like to talk if that's cool.
Dinah put down the phone in frustration and finished eating her salad, vowing she wouldn't look at her phone anymore until after work was done. He didn't even deserve all the responses she was giving him. And honestly, she didn't know what she was going to do.