This is a story about a girl, a boy, and a very troubled couple.

There once was a girl, Alex. She was very happy with her boyfriend. They had an unconventional relationship that most people would frown upon; it was a fairly open relationship with no strings attached to their outside partners. Alex and her boyfriend were happy with this set up and it worked well for both of them. They knew that as long as they were spending their nights together and their weekends with each other and they loved each other so things would work out, despite the fact that most people would not understand what their relationship was about.

Then, Alex met Charles.

Charles had moved into the city that Alex was in and was working in the building she had been working in for the past two years. Charles and Alex had several similarities and had a lot of fun together. They were able to take time to laugh with each other and vent about work and even make fun of the others hockey team. When Alex's boyfriend was out of town, she spent nights with Charles. When Alex's boyfriend was in town, they kept most of their contact at work. Alex even helped Charles with his girlfriend back home, even giving him the suggestion of what to send his girlfriend for their five-year anniversary (five dozen red roses, one for each year, delivered to her place of work). Charles would listen to the problems that would crop up in Alex’s relationship and tell her how terrible her boyfriend was.

Then, they started to move past being just friends. When Alex's boyfriend was out of town, she wouldn't just go to dinner with Charles; she would end up staying the night with him. Eventually, he started to develop feelings for him and she for him. Instead of just sending emails about an interesting band or an intriguing movie, they started to open up to each other. He began telling her more about his family and his hometown and his past. She slowly began to open up to him, a fact that he never really knew was a great feat. Charles told Alex how much her boyfriend didn’t appreciate her. He told her constantly how much better she could do. Alex was very insecure so being complimented constantly and told how she could do better was a very nice change. Her boyfriend didn’t ignore her, but they had been together for quite a while so he didn’t compliment her like he used to. Even though Alex and her boyfriend were happy, Charles told her he was ignoring her and that her boyfriend was taking advantage of her.

You see, Alex was a very closed person. She grew up in a family that was not very close or very loving. She grew up in the type of family that would terrify most people. She learned to keep things to herself; Alex learned to lock herself away. Alex would paint and draw and photograph and write in order to express herself. But she would never show true emotion to those she didn't trust. And Alex did not trust many.

Alex trusted her boyfriend; he knew all of her secrets and all of her past. He knew about all of the terrible things she had lived with. He knew all of the terrible things she had to live through. He knew about the trials she had endured and the life she had chosen to lead. Alex truly trusted him. It took several years for her to open up and be herself around him, but it had happened.

When Alex began to open up to Charles and tell him little details about her past, he didn't ever realize how special that was. She would take time out of her extremely busy day to spend time with him. Even though she was supposed to be dedicated solely to her boyfriend, she found herself split. But so did he. He began to express a deep love for her, something that she refused to take to heart. Charles began to speak of a future between them. He talked of trips they would take and holidays they would spend together and homes they would share and museums they would visit and concerts they would go to and sporting events they would cheer for. And slowly, ever so slowly, Alex began to believe him.

Alex was a little confused because he continually expressed his love and yet he would never say when exactly he would be leaving his girlfriend. Charles would always tell her that he was just going to break things off the next time he flew up to visit her. As soon as he sold his house that he used to share with her, it would be over. She was also torn because she did still love her boyfriend. But, not surprisingly, they had started to fight.

Her boyfriend began to say that she was no longer coming home to him. He said her thoughts were always with another. Alex profusely denied this fact because she didn't realize just how true it was. Alex began to see their once amazing relationship began to turn sour but she didn't see the reason why. She was hurt that things seemed to be falling apart and saddened to see the man she loved pushing her away. Only, she was the one pushing him away. And by only noticing the fighting, it drew her closer to Charles and therefore only worsened her problems with her boyfriend.

Then, one day, Charles's girlfriend called Alex. She was not only confused by this fact alone, but confused by that fact that she was telling Alex that she was making Charles's decision for him to stay faithful. This was not Charles's decision; he was allowing his girlfriend to make it for him. Even though she was a little hurt by this news, she saw that this girl was obviously a bit crazy if she was going to search through her own boyfriend's phone and call up a person she didn't know and make someone else's decision. So Alex knew that when Charles was back in town on Monday, things would be different.

But, they weren't. Charles sought out Alex and told her he was going to stay with his girlfriend but he still wanted to be friends. Since Alex did value his friendship, she agreed this would be best for both of them. Apparently, Charles had different friends because he was careful to get them back to the state of their relationship prior to “the incident” and was just a lot more careful about things when he went home. Charles was obviously not close enough because his girlfriend was constantly calling and texting and emailing him to make sure he was not spending time with Alex.

At this point, Alex was just very confused about where she stood. Her own relationship with her boyfriend was falling apart because she spent the majority of her time talking to or thinking about Charles.  She was too blind to see that her own preoccupation with a relationship that seemed to be perfect in theory was taking away her focus from a real relationship. Alex was so wrapped up in the image that Charles had drawn for her that she didn't even stop to question whether or not he was honest. He had convinced her that they were eventually going to be together. Charles continually told her how bad her current boyfriend was to her and how much better he would be for her. He told her how he didn’t love his girlfriend at all. They were perfect for each other. All that needed to be done was for both of them to end both of their other relationships in a peaceful manner.

Months passed in this fashion, Charles hiding (and failing to hide) the fact that he was still attached to Alex. Alex continued to watch her relationship with her boyfriend die, and she did nothing to stop it. Charles continued to build up an image of their future relationship and the life they would have together. Charles continued to tell Alex about the faults her boyfriend had and the problems his girlfriend had. Charles was adamant about the fact that his girlfriend and he were in a doomed relationship and it was going to end soon. He continued to talk about how terrible of a person she was. Yet, he continued to put off breaking up with his current girlfriend.

Then, he moved her down out of the city she was in. But that was only after she told him she wasn't going to be moving at least five times and changed her mind every time. But, she moved down nonetheless. And spent quite a lot of time following every form of social media that Alex had. This girlfriend was also not very careful about making her own presence known, so Alex knew she was being virtually stalked. It made her uncomfortable, but she knew she wasn't afraid of anything that she was posting in these online outlets.

When Charles's girlfriend began to contact Alex and her own boyfriend, Alex felt like things were going too far. Because of the fact that Charles was forced to stop contacting Alex, even while they worked in the same building, Alex thought her increasing interest in Alex's life was a bit bizarre. Alex tried to ignore this and just get on with her life. Charles made it perfectly clear that he was choosing his girlfriend even though he knew she would never trust him and she would always be suspicious and she would never forgive him. He also told Alex that the relationship he was in would not work because they were only together out of fear of being alone. Because they had been together for so long, it would just be too difficult to separate at this point. Charles knew all of these things and told all of these things to Alex yet he had made his choice. Alex could only accept this and try to move on.

But moving on wasn't as easy as she thought it would be. Especially when Charles would continually stop into her office just to say hi. He was spending more and more time in her office to talk about things that he really did not need to consult her coworkers about. Even though she was trying to forget everything that happened, he wasn't letting her. So she decided to confront him. She told him how angry and hurt she was about the whole mess that they had been. She was hurt about the way he had left her promising to end things with his girlfriend and only returned to say that he was staying with her.

All he had to say was that he was sorry.

Alex and her boyfriend had completely fallen apart. They were at the point that they were going to be going separate ways after the Christmas holidays. It had been decided, he was hurt that she had given up. She was hurt by Charles and only saw the downward spiral of her actual relationship. They had both come to the conclusion that they would be better off going different ways after the holidays. Charles kept Alex updated up until he was flying home for the Christmas holidays about just how jealous his girlfriend was. She was continually searching for reasons to fight with him. He was only going to stay with her until the end of the semester and then she would go home.

Before Alex and her boyfriend went separate ways, Alex had a doctor's appointment. At this appointment, Alex found out that she had cancer. This caused Alex and her boyfriend to take a step back and realize what they had been fighting about wasn't really that important. They quickly realized that they still loved each other quite a lot and wanted to make it work. They realized that they wanted to be there for the bad times as much as the good. In a way, the cancer found in Alex got rid of the cancer that infected their relationship.

In the next two months, Alex and her boyfriend had a relationship that began to heal. They had to rediscover what exactly they had and why they were with each other in the first place. They still fought and by no means were things perfect, but they were getting better. Both Alex and her boyfriend forgot about Charles and his girlfriend. They were forced to remember them on the occasions that she would force her existence to be known by making herself known on one of their social media accounts. However, for the most part, Alex and her boyfriend were getting better.

On the day that Alex was set to have her cancer removed, her boyfriend drove her and she felt like things were really back on track. With something as terrifying as cancer to deal with, she knew that there would be few people willing to stand by her when she was dealing with such a difficult and trying thing. Both Alex and her boyfriend quickly realized what their real priorities were.

About a month later, Alex got the news that she was not, in fact, cancer free. She was faced with the decision about how to deal with this news. Alex was dealing with serious problems at work and trying to figure out a way to transition cleanly to a new position in a new place. Alex was also dealing with working through the stress of college and taking classes and balancing it with work and ballet and create a social life. Alex had quite a lot on her plate. When Charles stopped into her office one day to see how she was doing and found out she was looking for a new job, he seemed a bit disappointed with this news. He also asked her about the music that she was listening to; Alex had a knack for finding new music that usually was pretty great. Alex wanted to share the band that she was listening to so she sent Charles an email with a link to the band’s website.

The next day, Alex’s boyfriend received several messages from Charles’s girlfriend. She was apparently threatened by the thought that Alex had the audacity to send Charles a single email. An email about music. After the troubles that Alex and her boyfriend had gone through, Alex was furious that this girl was trying to cause trouble over nothing and could potentially ruin all of the progress they had made. Alex’s boyfriend was furious that this girl even had his phone number and was trying to contact him when he had no desire to have this poison in his life anymore.

Apparently, Charles and his girlfriend had forgotten that Alex’s boyfriend’s father was a very powerful man. Alex’s boyfriend wrote up an email that he was going to send to his father and had Alex proofread it before it was sent. It would get Charles not only fired from his current job, but it would also make Charles unhirable. Alex told her boyfriend to hold off on sending his father the email for now. Even though Charles and his girlfriend didn’t deserve it, she was going to give them one final chance to get out of their life.

Alex also realized several things after being contacted by this shallow little girl. She realized that Charles really had no backbone. If he was not able to stand up to his girlfriend and talk to her about what she was doing, he was obviously not the man Alex thought he was. Alex realized that Charles was in a completely unhealthy relationship. If Charles was letting his girlfriend go through his phone and text messages and showing up at his place of work to check up on him, this was obviously not a healthy relationship. Alex also realized that Charles’s girlfriend was never going to move past what had happened. She would never forgive Charles and she was always looking for reasons to fight with him. This girl was just a very sad, shallow girl. Alex also realized that she threatened this girl. Despite the fact that Alex no longer wanted anything to do with Charles.

After realizing all of these things, Alex was more confident in her relationship with her boyfriend. She had someone that would stand up to her and challenge her. She was with a man that had forgiven her and was moving on. She was with a man that trusted her, despite the bad things that had happened. She was in a relationship that was stronger for all of the troubles and trials it had been through. Alex was with someone that was helping her to be a better person and wanted her to be happy. This was a relationship that was growing and stronger and getting better every day. Alex felt silly for ever thinking that Charles would be able to actually offer her any sort of fulfilling relationship or future. Alex even laughed at the fact that both Charles and his girlfriend were still dwelling on something that meant nothing to Alex and her boyfriend. Alex and her boyfriend had moved on and were happy.

As they say, the grass is always greener. And if you don't focus on what you actually have, that will quickly die all for the dream of something that would never have worked in the first place.