Healthy Living

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A NEED GREATER THAN FOOD AND WATER, PART II

The next day at school in Paul's physics class, his classmate, Judith, got stuck on a question and asked Paul to help her. Paul went to her desk and explained the question to her. Bridget, on the other hand, became very angry and jealous at the sight of her boyfriend even talking to or standing near another girl. When class was over, she approached him and said, "Paul, you know how I feel about you talking to other girls! Why couldn't Judith have gotten someone else to help her?"

"You know what, Bridget, I am sick and tired of you being jealous every time I talk to other girls! You can't be so possessive. You need to give me some space," Paul told her.

"Fine!" Bridget yelled. "You can have all the space you need! If you can't respect my wish for you not to talk to other girls, I don't want to see you anymore!"

"Well, if you can't respect my right to talk to whoever I want without getting jealous, I don't want to see you anymore!" Paul shouted. Bridget stormed off, and Paul angrily kicked his locker.

All day long Paul was devastated. Bridget had been the love of his life, but he couldn't be with anyone who got possessive and jealous easily and would not allow him to live his life. Regardless of the fact that he knew it was for the best, Paul hurt like crazy. That evening he tried to talk to his mom and dad about it at the dinner table. "I'm very sorry to hear that, dear, but you're a bright and intelligent boy. You'll find someone else," was all Mallory said. All Samuel said was, "Yeah, there are lots of fish in the sea." Right after saying these things, they returned to talking about their jobs and things that had happened at work that day.

Paul was very hurt and angry that his parents hadn't really put any effort into talking to him more about his problem with Bridget. He went up to his bedroom and closed the door. He lay down on his bed and stared at the ceiling, crying. Dina soon came up to his room and knocked on the door. "Paul? It's Dina. Can I come in?" she asked.

"Sure, sis," Paul said.

Dina opened the door and went into his room. She climbed up onto the bed beside him. "Paul, I'm sorry about you and Bridget. I know you loved her."

Paul sighed. "I still love her, little sis," he said. He sat up and wiped his eyes and added, "but she doesn't respect me like she should. She didn't let me talk to people I wanted to talk to if they were girls. I got tired of her always telling me what to do. She wouldn't get off my case."

Dina wrapped her arms around her brother's neck. "It sounds like you made the right choice, even though it made you sad. You need someone who respects you."

Paul hugged Dina back and kissed her on the cheek. "You know something, sport? I think you're the only one who really listens to me."

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