「故事·听力」My Boyfriend Was A Pathological Liar
My Boyfriend Was A Pathological Liar
Hi, this girl’s name is Sara, and she wants to tell you a story that broke her heart. Now that she’s getting over it, she feels the urge to share it with someone, as a lot of you guys probably know somebody like her ex-boyfriend. His name is Jake, but now she can't even be sure about that.
It all happened during her first year in high school. Her family moved to another town, and everything was all new to her. She didn't know anyone in her class, and on her first day she mostly just watched what was going on, as she was too shy to start a conversation.
And out of all the boys in her new class, it was Jake who drew her attention. Really, it was hard not to notice him. He was so popular. He was not on any school team and he didn't study a lot really, but there was something about him that made people want to be around him.
So of course when Jake sat down beside her at lunch, and started talking to her, Sara was...interested. In a couple of weeks she was certain that he liked her.
Every day Jake had a story to tell. He played drums in a band that was already quite successful, and had several shows outside their town; he wrote poetry; he was a talented young painter and he would get in trouble every other day for protecting a girl or saving a puppy.
So, within about a month and a half they started dating. To be honest, what made Sara feel even better was the fact that half of the girls in her class were secretly in love with Jake. That was the kind of a secret that everyone knew. And of course, they were madly jealous.
It all started better than she could have imagined. Jake was the boy of her dreams – he was smart and funny, and she was charmed by everything he said.
And it was like this for several weeks. On one of their dates, he told her that he'd be out of town for a week, as his band had an upcoming concert in a neighboring city. She was constantly trying to hint to him that she really wanted meet the guys from his band and to see him play...but he had a new excuse every time, or pretended he didn't notice.
The same thing happened this time. He just IGNORED what she said, and left the next day!
Sara didn't like that at all, but she was already in love, so now she was paying close attention to his his excuses. “Maybe he'd be too nervous if I was around? Or maybe he's preparing a surprise show for me really soon?”
So the first thing that made her think something was wrong was the picture his dad posted on Facebook. His parents were in that neighboring city and...Jake was with them! For the next twenty minutes she spent her time just thinking about possible explanations of how that might have happened. “Maybe his parents were there at the show to support him?” But why, in that case, didn't he invite her?
She couldn't find any answers, so she had to admit something was seriously wrong. She started to check the facts.
After an hour of recalling his stories and googling basically everything, Sara found out that her boyfriend’s life was one big lie. According to Instagram, for example, he was out with his friends the day he told her he was rehearsing; the art exhibitions he mentioned didn't even exist; the epic stories he told about himself seemed to have happened to other people, and the last thing...The band with the name he had always mentioned didn't have a drummer. It was electronic.
She decided to pretend everything was okay until he came back home. She texted him messages of support and questions about the show – oh yes, she had a strategy.
So they met up after he came back, and sure enough he started telling Sara about his concert, and how cool everything had been and that it was a shame that she...wait for it...COULDN'T COME. She chose the best possible moment to say what she had to say. She told him everything she’d found out. He tried to defend himself, and even manipulate her, saying that they’d have to break up, but she didn’t care anymore. She was furious.
In the middle of her monologue, he broke down in tears. He said that his parents had to get out of town and they just took him with them, not leaving him any choice. There was no band, no poetry, no art. As he was speaking she realized that he was making it all up because he felt so…insecure. Jake really thought that he was a loser, and that without making all of these things up he wouldn’t have any friends. She felt sorry for him.
So there she was, even close to forgiving him, but he looked up at her and said: “Please don’t tell the guys”.
They broke up the same day, of course. And…she didn’t tell anybody. Everyday at school, he keeps on telling his stories, and everyone still believes him. She hopes that someday he’ll just grow up.