I think that each relationship we go through teaches us a new lesson. My exes did not just teach me a lesson, they gave me a whole semester's worth of knowledge in one short relationship. I did not start dating until I was in my Junior year of high school, mostly because I never saw the point in having a high school relationship. Statistically, they all end and I would have just been left heartbroken. Junior year, however, I decided to date a guy that I had known since I was 12 years old. I mean, if our friendship could last five years, surely it'd be a long lasting relationship. This ex, however, turned out to be the worst. He drained me emotionally, made me think less of myself and, to this day, I don't believe he's told me a single truth.

By the sounds of all of that it seems like we were in a relationship for a long time right? No, we weren't. We dated for two months before I lost it and had to end it. In the two months we were together, I was told he cheated on me four times. In those two months, he made me say I loved him any time he asked. For two months, if I did not write a paragraph text message confessing my love for him and saying goodnight he would tell me that I was a bad girlfriend and that I obviously didn't really want to be with him. My parents despised him and I reached my breaking point when a previous ex of his sent me text messages of him saying that he didn't love me and that he was just using me to make her jealous. I was 17 when I realized I deserved better than him.

I wish I could say I ended it with a clean break, but I didn't. We had been best friends. He saw me when I was invisible and I thought-- like many immature/hopeful girls do-- that I could change him. I went behind my mother's back and started to see him again. This lasted about two weeks and then my mom found out. Trust me, it was over then. I never went back to dating him, but we kept in touch and talked on occasion. We both went onto new relationships. His failed due to his infidelity, mine failed due to the fact that I am sarcastic and am not always the most caring.

Currently his relationship is on a break due to him being clingy and I'm sure a slew of other things, and I am perfectly happy with the guy that I have been seeing. I think my ex has this sixth sense of knowing when I'm happy with another guy and he must come and try to ruin me. His most recent and his last conversation that he will ever have with me was about him. He told me has cancer. He wanted to see how I'd react to see if I would say if I still loved him and cared for him. I reacted in a way that any person would when someone has cancer. I freaked out. I was worried. Just because we are exes doesn't mean I want him to die from cancer . As we continued to talk things didn't add up and I began to ask questions like "have you told your parents" or "can I see the results" and that's when I knew he had lied to me. Not only did he lie to me, he tried to cover the lie of having cancer with more lies. It wasn't until I threatened to text a common friend and tell them that he has cancer that he came forward and told me that he lied to me just to get me to say that I loved him, not that it worked because I don't love him and wouldn't say that I did.

He has played with my emotions more than any person has before and all for his selfish gain. Right now his only worry is that I will tell his current girlfriend about what he did to me, which in itself shows what kind of person he is. In many ways he was and still is emotionally abusive. I don't know why he is the way he is but I know he is no good for me.

I tell this story not to slander my ex, but as a lesson for the girls or guys who are involved in a relationship like this. You deserve better. You deserve to be completely and totally in love with someone who doesn't force you to say it; someone who doesn't trick you into saying you love them; someone who doesn't make you feel like a less of human being. So... in the words of George Strait:

All my ex's live in Texas
And Texas is the place I'd dearly love to be
But all my ex's live in Texas
And therefore I reside in New York?