DOLCE

Reality is a Slap in the Face...Literally.

We are backtracking all the way back to April 2011.
 
Gabanna and I were hanging out at our college house when I got a text about partying in the city the next night for a friend's birthday. Knowing we had to waitress that same night we did the right thing by giving away our shifts and going straight to the mall to find something hott to wear. Can you blame us?

We pregamed on the bus down to the city and stumbled downtown to our friends penthouse to drop our stuff before heading to the bar. The bar wasn't your average city club, but it only took 20 minutes until they threw us on top of the bar to dance. Still with Ryan at the time I had my doubts and decided to take a break from the drama and enjoy my night. To help distract me from my troubles a guy I met the previous weekend, Seth, was there.

Meet Seth. He was 23, in the army, and a good dancer.

We met the previous weekend when he was visiting mutual friends at my school. He wasn’t exactly my type and I referred to him as “nerdy-cute” with tattoos. Knowing he was only home on leave for a little while longer and that nothing would happen, I thought why not flirt it up and support the troops.

Being a dancer myself I am honestly shocked when a guy can follow my lead, and boy did he have some moves. He may have been a bit nerdy but when he spun me around he instantly got bumped up to sexy. There was no doubt that we had crazy chemistry but I didn't get too wrapped up in the moment knowing my boyfriend wouldn't be too thrilled. Gabanna on the other hand saw things a little differently through her drunk goggles while she was dancing on top of the bar.

Out of nowhere I was grabbed from behind and pulled towards the bathroom. Without getting a chance to tell Seth I'll be right back Gabanna walked me past the bathroom attendant and into a stall with her. Still blushing, I looked at her confused. Her eyes were glassed over and she looked angry...this can't be good. I got the brunt of the anger when she wound up and slapped me hard across the face.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!!"
"YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID!"

And then she wound up and slapped me again across the face. What a sweetheart.

"STOP SLAPPING ME! WHAT THE HELL DID I DO!?"
"I SAW YOU! YOU MADE OUT WITH HIM!"
"NO ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?! Gabanna I'm with Ryan!  I would NEVER do that!! Not to mention he knows I have a boyfriend and hasn't tried anything all night!!"
"But I saw a blonde girl wearing black making out with this guy!"
"Yea, and do you know how many blonde girls at this bar are drunk making out!? I'm one of like 30 blondes here and this one was not doing any of that! Seriously!"

My face was beet red and I was not happy. I decided I had enough of a beating for one night and ran out to find Seth. Unfortunately, Gabanna was right there behind me.

He must have forgot he met her the previous weekend and introduced himself (even though we were all in the same bar for the past 4 hours).

"Hey I'm Seth."
"I KNOW WHO YOU ARE."

And then Gabanna did what she does best and slapped him point blank across the face. Joy.

He didn't take it too well. In a state of shock he flipped out and got into a cab. Maybe I should have called it a night and forgotten about the army boy right then and there...but that would be too easy. So I texted him and convinced him my best friend was nuts and to come back to the penthouse to hang out with us. He agreed and took the cab downtown. Nervous Gabanna was capable of slapping the shit out of people I told him it would be wise to hide out near the apartment until we made it upstairs. The army must have trained him how to hide (because he hid down in the bushes) but not how to protect himself from girls.

Gabanna stumbled in and collapsed onto the couch. I laid down on the couch next to her pretending to sleep until she passed the eff out. Within 5 minutes she was out cold and my other friends snuck Seth up into the apartment. We hung out in the other room and I was happy that he got to see that my friend was the only crazy one. As the sun began to rise we said our goodnights and I went back to my couch next to Gabanna.

The next morning you could cut the tension with a knife. I was praying Gabanna blacked out and would be nice to Seth. Thankfully she kept her mouth shut and we walked him back to Penn Station on our way to Port Authority. As we dropped him off he gave me a hug and told me to keep in touch. Knowing I'd probably never see the kid ever again I told him good luck with life and we parted ways... Looking back now I should have just left it at that, but when I got a text the next morning from him I couldn't stop smiling.

The whole experience was painful in two ways:
1. The slaps
2. It made me realize that I could have feelings for someone else.

I felt so guilty because I had a boyfriend, yet I was enjoying the fact that I had butterflies for someone else. If you can have feelings for someone else then open your eyes and see that there's a chance you’re not as happy in your relationship as you think you are. It's not fair to the other person in your relationship if your feelings aren't loyal. Just think how you would feel if you found out they were crushing hard on the girl next door?

If you're in this situation you need to do the right thing. There was a lot of turmoil in my relationship already and Seth was just another reason why I needed to get the hell out of there. In her drunken state Gabanna was trying to be a good friend and the slap was just what I needed.

Reality is a slap in the face and as much as it hurts at first, your face will heal and so will your heart.