The smell

I dated a guy who had repeatedly been burned by women and had only had one relationship his entire life. I almost instantaneously regretted dating him, because it was clear that he had no idea how to be in a relationship or take care of himself. He was also paranoid because of past bad dates or quasi-relationships. I was wrongfully accused of insinuating he was cheating on me when I asked an innocent question about a female friend, who I hadn’t yet met, and he thought it was a chore having to communicate with me (you, know, because I was his girlfriend). When we disagreed on something, he would basically ghost me and refuse to talk to me. He also would never let me in his house, so we had to hang out exclusively at my house.

I came to find out from him that his two cats used his home like a litter box. He described them as leaving “gifts” for him that he never cleaned. I am a very clean person and I asked how long it would take him to clean his home. He never gave me a straight answer on that, but eventually broke up with me because I was too clean and because of a smattering of things he believed I was implying that had no basis in reality.

-T.A.