I started my senior year of high school and Zack became a junior. It had been a few months since Zack gave up drinking and everything was great. Our relationship was back to the way it was in the first month of dating. I was happy and so was he I guess. Our first anniversary was coming up and boy was I excited, it was my first time having such a long relationship. And we were going to celebrate by Zack cooking me a delicious dinner and me making dessert.

I had it planned for months and when the day finally came it was so blissful. I had forgotten about all the pain I went through and focused on all of the happiness the relationship was giving me. Christmas was rolling around and I wanted to get him a great Christmas present so I worked for three months babysitting kids. I saved up enough money to get him a replica necklace from one of his favorite movie franchises, Fast and the furious.

He unwrapped his present and he was overjoyed by it. He kissed my cheek and told me he loved it and how an amazing girlfriend I was. He told me that his present for me was just as great and I got excited. I had spent so much money on his present that Christmas... As I was unwrapping my present I finally saw the label and the excitement in me died. I looked up at him to see him smiling and he generally looked excited and happy about what he bought me.

Now I'm not one for expensive items or material things but... He got me a can of wolf brand chili... When I had asked why he said it was because I had mad a joke about getting it for Christmas. He said he remembered that joke and thought it would actually be funny to get it for me... He seemed so happy and content with it. I said thank you and just enjoyed his happiness about the necklace I got him. I was okay with his gift as long as mine made him happy.

Our relationship was going great. It was at it's peak. It was my senior year so I had senior activities and prom. I was so busy that I never actually saw what he was doing and how he was lying to me. How blind I was.

I ended up graduating with honors and he was so proud of me. I was the first person in my entire six people family to actually graduate. My family was so happy. He was there with me every step of the way. That entire summer we spent together and then when fall came around I got a job at Kroger and he started his senior year. It was his turn. Around Halloween we had decided that since I was spending almost every night at his house, I'd just move in. So I did. It was okay at first when I was off I'd help around his mom's house and wait for him to come home from school. The thing was... I wasn't at school anymore, so I never knew what he was up to.

I write that now but in reality his entire senior year he only did two things that we really fought about. The first was he skipped class to smoke with his "homie" and I found out later that it was a new girl from out of town... Hopefully all they did was smoke. And the second was that he came home late one night and he never told me why he was late... Even to this day I don't know why he was late.

He graduated and I was there for him the entire time. We went through everything together. Unfortunately for me and my mental health, I started gaining weight... I had always had trouble with the way I looked. I was bullied for being fat but never truly understood that I was never fat to begin with. I was 125lbs... And I was told every day I was fat... And then I got with Zack and moved in with him... Now... I really am fat I weigh 190lbs and I wish I could go back and tell my younger self how beautiful she really was.

Anyways thats off track... I started gaining weight. And that's important for later details. And people started to notice and call it out. I started getting more and more depressed. I lost all of my friends and isolated myself. In the end it was only me and him. I had stop helping his mom too. That became a problem for her. so she kicked me out and he went with me. Not having anywhere to go we moved in with my parents in the guest room. But before we left his mom pulled me aside and told me something. She said that he never stopped drinking he just got better at hiding it from me.

I took that to heart. But she was so upset how was I to know if she was lying or not. So I asked him and he said she was trying to get in between us. I trusted him... I trusted him. We moved in at my parents and everything was going great. He would smoke with my family and I got him hired on at my work. Life was back to being great. And for a while our relationship was amazing...

Until the winter of 2018!!