You can't write this stuff!

Some of you know this story already - others don't. I have received permission from my sister to post the happenings of her life for the past week (and for background going back about 6 months).

Here's the story:

Tony (my sister's now ex) lives here in LA. Sharon (my sister) lives in NYC. They had been dating for 4 1/2 years - 2 while here and 2 after she moved. Turns out that Tony started dating an 18 year old (he's 30) who works directly under him at LMU. This has been going on since about March (I think). In June, right before Sharon came out to visit to see the Mehtropolis show (which Tony and I were both in), Tony sent Sharon an email breaking up with her and telling her that there was someone else. Meanwhile, he had told all his friends that he and Sharon had broken up "a long time ago." Naturally, she was devastated - who breaks up with someone via email after 4 1/2 years?

Sharon still came out in June, stayed with me - we had some good sister bonding time. She met with Tony and he back-pedaled on everything. He told her he didn't mean a single thing he said in the email, that he knew it was the wrong thing to do the moment he clicked send, blah blah blah. Meanwhile, he was bringing the 18 year old around Mehtropolis and even volunteered her to do box office for us - so I had to witness the hideousness of the kid hanging on his every word and them fondling each other . . . ew. So anyway, Sharon decided to believe him - because she was still in love with him and it was just easier for her at the time.

Since June, Tony has been telling my sister that he wanted to work things out with her, texting her that he loves her, emailing her how much he wants to be with her, etc. He decided to come out and visit her in NYC in September. However, he wouldn't give Sharon any flight details. He finally provided her with the dates - he was supposed to get in last Wednesday.

Here's where it all went screwy. On Tuesday, Tony sent Sharon an email saying his flight was changed and he was getting in Thursday morning instead, but he was trying to change his flights so that he would still get in on Wednesday. Meanwhile he said his phone wasn't working and he couldn't receive or send phone calls, but he could text. But his texts would come in random spurts - like 10 all at once. Somehow, he supposedly got stuck in Chicago on Wednesday afternoon. Sharon had no idea what was going on and started to get worried about him. She texted him to find a payphone - after all, airports are one of the few places where payphones still exist and are plentiful. She still hadn't heard from him by midnight my time (3 am her time) on Wednesday night/Thursday morning. So she called me to get Tony's roommate's phone number to see if Joey (the roommate) had heard anything. Joey said he hadn't heard from Tony and that he didn't even know Tony was going out of town until he got a text from Tony that day saying "I forgot to tell you I'm going out of town for a few days."

Sharon finally heard from Tony Thursday morning when he sent her an email (yet again) saying that this whole thing was just too stressful and he couldn't take it so he was turning around and going back to CA. He said he wasn't "breaking up but I guess that's what this is." Obviously, Sharon was upset and confounded. She knew right then and there that their relationship was over. She had taken the entire week off of work (which she can't really afford to do). She had bought a bunch of groceries so they could eat in instead of eating out. She had done all the things someone does when they have someone special coming from out of town to visit.

So, she did what any rational human being would do and she booked a flight to LA. :) It just happened to work out that Aaron and I were planning on going down to SD this weekend because Aaron had a film in the San Diego Film Festival. So we brought Sharon with us and she got to see our parents and spend quality time with people who actually love her.

I picked Sharon up on Thursday night. She wanted the opportunity to slap Tony across the face in person, so she emailed him to see where he was (without telling him that she was in town). He claimed that he still wasn't back - that he was so upset about the whole thing, he got drunk and arrested for disorderly conduct. Several emails went back and forth between them over the course of the weekend. He said he was back, but not home, etc. until Sharon finally told him she was in town. Then he told her that he had rented a car and "just started driving." On Sunday, he finally told her that he was 19 hours away and that he would do his best to be back by Monday night, but he wasn't promising anything. Meanwhile, he told his roommate that he would be home on Tuesday night.

Sharon knew then that she would not get the opportunity to confront the cowardly Tony in person. So she wrote him a 5 page hand-written scathing letter. Joey let her into their apartment on Monday morning so that she could leave the letter on his bed and take back any items of hers that Tony still had. Then she sat down and talked to Joey to get as much of the real story as is known at this time. Joey told her that Tony was definitely still seeing the 18 year old - in fact, she's there almost every night. The 18 year old drives Tony everywhere because he does not have a car of his own.

Speaking of the car - (this is the one that gets me the most) - Tony told Sharon that labor day weekend he had gone camping with his friends and forgot to tell her, which is why he didn't call her that weekend. On the way back from camping, he said he got into a car accident and totalled his car. He said he was in the hospital getting his cuts and bruises taken care of and he couldn't call her bc he couldn't remember her phone number. Sharon was so worried about him that she had our parents call Tony to make sure he was ok. In reality, Tony spent the entire labor day weekend sitting on his couch with the 18 year old. What happened to his car? He got too many parking tickets and the car has now been impounded.

That's about where we're at. Aaron and I had Joey over for dinner last night and we all talked about the situation and about Tony's inability to face confrontation and how he lies to avoid even the most minor of confrontations and how that just makes everything 5 million times worse because it has now snowballed into this monstrosity of a situation. I really think Tony has lied so much that he now has no idea what is real and what he made up in his head. Joey promised to keep us informed when he finds out where Tony really was - none of us think he ever intended to actually go to NYC.

Tony used to be my friend - we danced together in Mehtropolis for a long time. But at the moment, I don't ever want to speak to him again. Not with the way he treated my sister, and not with the way he lied to everyone who has ever cared about him.

Really, Sharon is sooo much better off. She is way too smart, pretty and mature for him. I knew that before all this went down. But seriously, this is just so crazy that it feels kind of like we're in the middle of a tv show or some other work of fiction - not real life!