My boyfriend broke up with me and embarrassed me in front of my whole family

Public Humiliation and the Trick Up My Sleeve

My boyfriend broke up with me in front of my entire family, so I asked him to get back together. He agreed, not knowing I had an extra trick up my sleeve.

I had been with James for over five years, and he was my best friend. He was the protective type, the type to make sure you walk on the other side of the sidewalk, the type to make sure you never open a door by yourself. But everyone has their flaws, and James’s was running away.

During our relationship, we had broken up a total of 15 times, with the longest breakup lasting 4 days. To any sane human, this would have been enough to walk, but unfortunately for me, I was putty in his hands.

About 8 months ago, I finally graduated from college. My course was 6 years long, so this was a moment I’d been waiting for for a very, very long time. And my mom, being the angel that she is, organized a graduation dinner.

That evening, I blared white girl music and danced like I was 21 again. When James came home, I practically jumped on him. “I graduated today! I finally did it!”

I knew he was tired from work, but I was still hoping for a loving hug or at least a congratulations. Instead, I got a lukewarm squeeze of the shoulder before he sighed and asked me to turn off the music.

A wave of sadness hit me, and I turned it off, thinking maybe he had a surprise and his congratulations would come afterwards, but it didn’t. As he sat on the couch and asked me to cook him a steak, I asked what his deal was.

“Dude, just let me chill. Quit acting like my mom.”

Tears stung my eyes, but I brushed them away because I didn’t want him to call me a crybaby. “James, why aren’t you happy for me?”

Then came the words that always stung my soul, despite hearing them dozens of times before. “Babe, I really don’t think this is working out.”

I didn’t even let him finish; I just jumped onto his lap and started making out with him. I guess I was just trying to forget the pain I was in or how much of a drain our relationship had become in my life.

In any case, it worked for a while, at least because it was during our lovemaking session that James grunted the words, “I’m so happy for you”. A euphoric sense of joy filled my bloodstream. I truly felt like I had earned those words.

Regardless of everything, when the day of my dinner arrived, I was ecstatic. It would be James’ first time meeting my entire extended family, all while celebrating the most monumental day in my life.

I was so happy that even when James spewed his usual negativity and said, “Is this really necessary?” or “I don’t really see what the big deal is,” I was able to ignore it. Actually, it’s more like I was able to convince myself he was joking, which is what I had done for our entire relationship and is probably why I was with him for so long. I was so naive.

But the night started out really great. James drove us to my mom’s, and as I caught myself in the reflection of the rearview mirror, I genuinely thought to myself that I looked like a princess. I sure as heck felt like one too.

When we got there, everyone was showering me with compliments. I was smiling so hard my cheeks hurt. I was never really the center of attention. Not because I didn’t like it, but because it always gave James this look of scorn on his face that I wanted to avoid. But that time, I let myself bathe in it.

We were all sitting down, gorging on the beautiful dinners, yes plural, that my mom had cooked. When James asked me if he could make a toast, I smiled, thinking that he had finally risen to the occasion. I even helped to silence the table, my heart fluttering with dreams of what he was about to say.

But then he stood up with his expensive glass of champagne and started yapping. “I am so happy to be celebrating with all of you today.”

He nodded in the direction of my family members. “Because now that we’re all together, I can announce my decision to break up with Addison. I’m sorry, babe, but just being honest. Seeing you crave so much attention all the time gives me the ick. I can’t look at you the same.”

He then put his glass down and walked out. I was so shocked I couldn’t even move. I felt my limbs freeze. My throat tightened like a vice. My face burned, and my stomach started flipping in knots.

I looked at my mom, and when our eyes met, I saw that she looked embarrassed. A part of me wanted the men in my family to go out and hurt James, but instead, they just sat there looking like they were holding back a laugh. My sister was the only one who looked angry.

It wasn’t until I walked out and called an Uber home that I let myself cry. Mascara was streaming down my cheeks. My whole body was trembling.

And that’s when I got the call. It was James. I quickly cleared my throat and pitched my voice to not sound sad anymore. “Hope there’s no hard feelings.”

“OMG, James, I’m so sorry for being such an attention seeker. I didn’t mean to make everything about myself. Please take me back!”

I interrupted. There was a short pause on the other side, and he asked if I promised to change, and I did. He told me to get the Uber back to his apartment instead, and I did.

But what he didn’t realize is that I wasn’t the naive one anymore; James was. He thought he could ruin my day, and maybe he did. But I was going to ruin his life. I hung up and immediately texted Riley. “Don’t worry, I have a plan.”

When I got to James’ apartment, he opened the door with a smug look on his face. “That was quick,” he said, stepping aside to let me in.

I walked past him and sat on the couch. “I’ve been thinking about what you said,” I told him, trying to sound small and defeated. “You’re right, I do seek too much attention,” he nodded, looking pleased with himself. “I’m glad you can see that now. It’s been bothering me for a while.”

I swallowed my pride and asked, “So, we’re back together?” “I guess so,” he said with a shrug. “Just try to be less, you know, less me,” I suggested. “Exactly,” he said.

That night I slept next to him, plotting. The next morning I woke up early and made his favorite breakfast. “What’s this for?” He asked suspiciously. “Just trying to show you I can be better,” I said with a sweet smile.

He seemed satisfied with that and dug in. Little did he know this was just the beginning of my plan. That day I started setting things in motion.