Passenger Two

I knew Passenger Two from what was known back in the olden days as High School. We slept together on his 18th birthday and didn't speak to each other again. Fast forward 7 years to the end of my first marriage (did I mention I was married twice?) and I flew to Perth to visit a friend as a way to escape the pressure of a youthful divorce. Went out partying at a pub one night and thought I recognised the hot bartender...yep, it was him. He told his boss "I just ran into the girl I slept with on my 18th birthday." The boss, being an understanding man, gave him the rest of the night off so we could relive some memories. We didn't speak to each other again. Fast forward another 7 years to the end of my second marriage and sure enough I get a message from Passenger Two via schoolfriends (you remember schoolfriends? It was how we hooked up with people we should have left as High School memories before facebook came along).

Still in Perth and this time with twin daughters we decided to see if we could make this thing last for more than one night every seven years. At first it was great, we called each other all the time, emailed constantly and I flew to Perth to spend time with him and get to know his girls. We talked about the past, we talked about the future, I spent money I didn't have on plane tickets and phone bills. I started thinking about moving closer to him and talked about maybe using the word "boyfriend" a bit.

And now we skip to the end. I scrounged up a bit of money for a trip over, arrived, stayed the night and was dumped. Apparently, he had been thinking about it for a while but wanted to see me in person to make sure he really wanted to dump me. Aww...he was so thoughtful...and I was so stuck! My flight back wasn't for a week and I had nowhere else to stay, his children were there and wondering why I kept bursting into tears all the time and there was no spare bed so we had to share even though Mr Thoughtful had made it clear he suddenly found me completely unattractive.

So, lets get to the really fascinating bit...what happens next

1. I finally flew home and almost immediately into the arms of Passenger Three, a story for another day.

2. Mr Thoughtful got cranky that I moved on so quickly...huh?

3. Mr Thoughtful later got in contact and suggested we get back together (sorry Buddy, you are already on The Bus)

Fast forward 7 years to the end of another long term relationship. Yep, you guessed it, Mr Thoughtful and I got back in touch. We even talked about catching up again, after all, a lot can change in 7 years...only when it came down to it, I met someone new, someone who has never been on The Bus and when it comes to a choice between a ghost and the real thing...you have to choose the real thing.

Last I heard Mr Thoughtful was still single and had never had a long term relationship (his twins were the product of a short term fling). He is no longer talking to me because I broke the 7 year cycle (This also prompted him to speculate that I was in some way responsible for him having commitment issues...huh?). And I learned a valuable lesson...A one night stand is a one night stand, even if it happens multiple times.