(After reading this post: [https://www.reddit.com/r/gonewildstories/comments/d48vsn/i_met_up_with_a_high_school_friend_i_hadnt_seen/](https://www.reddit.com/r/gonewildstories/comments/d48vsn/i_met_up_with_a_high_school_friend_i_hadnt_seen/) I was inspired to write about my own adventures after a really bad break relationship and break-up)
My ex was toxic, but it took me forever to realize it. She was passive aggressive, put walls up when she didn’t get her way, and expect me to always be happy-go-lucky. She had had several poor relationships herself before me, so I kept thinking that she would eventually grow out of it, learn that *I* was different. I was wrong.
While we had still been together, I went to school for a professional certificate, and met many people who were going into the same field as me. One of them, was Emma. At the time, everyone in my classes knew that I was attached, and we got to know each other as friends and future colleagues, but nothing more than that.
Fast forward several years to after I broke up with my ex. Emma had posted on social media about a new project at work that she was going to get involved in. I had just finished a similar project, so I offered to help. She quickly DM’d me her phone number, so that I could call her and talk her through how I had approached the problem. We talked for a couple of hours, and she insisted that she buy me dinner and/or drinks to thank me for saving her butt at work. I accepted.