- Share This Post
- Pin It
- 0
- 2
-
Sparkle (1)
Grace Weiss had it all. She lived in a beautiful city, had a perfect little apartment, a great job, a killer figure and – since the previous week – the man of her dreams. Grace had met Sebastian through his father. Having made an impression on the man Sebastian admired most in the world, she was certain of her position in Sebastian’s life, even if they’d only been seeing each other for two weeks.
Sebastian was a busy man and he had warned her about this, but Grace wasn’t like those other girls he had dated. The one he didn’t like to speak about with whom he’d been for two years, or the one after that who’d come and gone so fast she didn’t really count, or the one after that who hadn’t understood that he was busy and had made so many demands on his time she’d essentially driven him away.
No, Grace was nothing like Gina. Grace had a plan. She wouldn’t ask Sebastian for his time, she would simply be there. Her plan was slow but deliberate: a complete takeover of his life. First, she would ingratiate herself to his friends, listen to them, laugh at their jokes and encourage them in their endeavors. She would make herself a member of their group of her own accord. As a regular fixture among them and at their many parties, she’d secretly await Sebastian – she would never make a demand, simply happen to be there to cheer him on as he launched his new company or encourage him when things got rough. She would make their entanglement look effortless, like it made perfect sense. Like there was no better option.
Photo by Walt Stoneburner.
Yes, Grace Weiss had it all figured out. But as she sipped that last glass of wine sitting at her computer triumphantly -- having just returned to one of the many parties that would soon take over her social calendar to ensure she got to know Sebastian’s friends -- she logged on to Facebook to look at pictures of her future husband and saw a message on his wall from a woman she did not recognize. “So fun seeing you tonight!” the message said.
It looked innocent, but Grace could see it was anything but. It’d been posted at almost three that morning. Incensed, Grace put down her glass of wine, pulled up a Word document and decided that a change of plans was in order -- immediately. Putting on the voice she used when she approached partnerships for her company, she crafted a message explaining she and Sebastian were getting serious and that she, Grace Weiss, his new girlfriend, looked forward to getting to know all of his friends and building relationships that were as wonderful as the one she had with him.
She sent the woman that letter over Facebook and took a victorious sip of her wine. Not quite satisfied, she pulled up his friends list and began sending the e-mail to all the women in it. And then, finishing the wine bottle, she decided, what the hell? She sent it to all the men as well.
And so it was that Grace Weiss completely obliterated any chance of ever becoming serious with the man she thought would one day be her husband.
Many animal species are known to be territorial, marking and defending areas to secure resources, protect their young, and most notably, to ensure access to their mates. Maintaining territory lines usually involves displays, calls, scent marking behavior, and, occasionally, aggression.
Wolves urinate to mark their territory. Leopards rub up against things to mark theirs. Silverbacks tend to defend their groups rather than any specific location, using sounds, displays and charges to get their point across. And humans? Most of the time, we make fools of ourselves.
Mark, a man my friend Sophie dated, defended his mate by clocking any man who so much as looked at her. The problem was constant – it got to a point where Sophie felt they had nowhere else to go, they’d been thrown out of so many places due to his inability to refrain himself. The last straw came when her step-brother visited and Mark became convinced he was obsessed with Sophie. He effectively challenged him to a fighting match and soon after found himself locked out of Sophie’s apartment – and her life.
Sarah, another friend, ended a relationship with a man who couldn’t stop tagging her in photos on Facebook and posting on her Facebook wall.
