A Brief Chat | Teen Ink

A Brief Chat

May 15, 2015
By Anonymous

As their son neared college and their daughter continued to press for boarding school, Gareth and Lauren realized that the only common ground that they shared was about to be swept out from beneath their very feet. The children were the whole reason that they tried to sort out their issues and if it were not for those two examples of a love that once existed, Gareth and Lauren would never have done battle with the screaming and crying that had acted as the repellant between themselves and their issues. To add fuel to the fire, money started to run tight for the family once Gareth left his job. With fights increasing in frequency and the daunting deadline of college looming ever nearer, Gareth realized that money was now of utmost importance as well. College was not cheap and there was nothing left for him in the States. Gareth accepted a good-paying job in London and promptly moved away. Lauren eventually decided to call time and sure enough, Gareth received a letter requesting a divorce. The family split and Gareth and Lauren’s once bright future was extinguished like the last candle during a Christmas meal. What could have been; dreams of growing old together in retirement somewhere warm, blew away like the lasts wisps of smoke from the extinguished wick of their shared candle.
But wait. Go back.
Gareth has toned down his aggressively extravagant life style but will still occasionally partake in a wild weekend away. Lauren has slowly caught on to her husband’s extravagance and fights occur at least once a week. The children know there are issues and the fighting causes crying and dysfunctional family meals. Gareth decides to move out and Lauren agrees that it’s a good idea. Gareth doesn’t see much of Lauren for four years and the kids no longer see their father as a central figure in their lives. Neither Gareth nor Lauren care to make progress on their issues and as Gareth continues to mature; Lauren develops a drinking problem. Lauren takes out her issues on the children seeing as they are rapidly becoming the only thing that relates back to Gareth. Gareth no longer enjoys the lifestyle he leads because in the end, no amount of partying can make up for the loss of love. As the children get older, Gareth decides to make amends. After four years, Gareth moves back in but the relationship is nowhere near the strength it once was.
Wait, no. Go back.
Lauren started to miss the States and Gareth found a way to still make the same money while moving to New York. Lauren settled back in comfortably and started considering leaving her job as a flight attendant. The States treated Lauren well and she was very happy to be back in her country of origin. With opportunities abound for the making of money; Gareth was walking deeper into the game. Monte Carlo entailed parties on mega yachts with women wearing less than bathing suits and alcohol flowing as freely as the money and blow that the party’s occupants were addicted to. Gareth almost led an entirely secret life that Lauren could barely scratch the surface of. Lauren wanted to build their family further and Gareth obliged. Gareth lived a double life as a family man during the week and a Son of God during the weekends. Lauren settled into a rut and enjoyed playing the part of arm candy when needed. She was still nearly fully oblivious to her husband’s life but had begun to sense something a little defunct.
That’s still not right. Go back.
Lauren and Gareth meet while Lauren is a flight attendant based in London. Lauren is an experienced air hostess who has been around the world for her job. Gareth is not only a hard worker but also an extremely intelligent man. Pushing 28, Gareth finds himself making more money than anyone else in his entire family. Not bad for someone without any relatively significant education. With that money, Gareth keeps Lauren happy with the occasional piece of expensive jewelry/car/vacation/pet etc. But Gareth is also getting caught up in a game that very few are exposed to. Coming to prominence in a company that handles millions of pounds of currency every day meant that Gareth was starting to live the life that members of the upper epsilons of society had become addicted to. In between giving Lauren all the love she could want, Gareth would follow his friends to high end business trips in which his more voracious friends would get belligerently drunk and indulge that would all later be placed under “expenses”, meaning that the company would knowingly pay for the good looking Russian women used to bring in fresh revenue. Lauren was still lost in her lavish romance. While Gareth played in massive mansions and partied in private jets, Lauren obliviously continued to live in their comfortable South Kensington flat with the newest addition to their small family: a cat named Tui.
Too much detail. Still not right. Go back.
Lauren and Gareth meet while Lauren is a flight attendant based in England. Lauren is shocked to find that not all Brits hate Americans for their grandiose nature and takes a liking to Gareth’s rather flamboyant style. Lauren grew up in the rural Midwest and had never seen much of the world; hence why she became a flight attendant. She’d come to learn more about the world and the people that inhabit it than many of her former classmates who found themselves in the halls of universities and colleges of varying eminence. Gareth was a hard worker. Without any college education and having failed his A levels, Gareth had no right to be making the money he was making at the age during which he was making it. Gareth was a walking success story. The two fell wickedly in love with one another and travelled the continent and the world beyond. They lived in the upscale sections of London that, should they have kept the houses, would’ve been worth millions of pounds in today’s market. Lauren grew homesick and the couple moved back to the United States to raise their now blossoming family and after retiring to an upscale suburb an hour’s train ride north of the city, they proceeded to live happily ever after in relative luxury and tepid adventure.
There.


The author's comments:

This piece was based roughly on my parent's relationship. 


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