Not a Fairytale PART 5

As I've said before, we all know a 'Barry'. We've all met that one strange person, who at first seems popular and charming, but slowly reveals a proclivity for lying and deception. It might not be outright at first, but perhaps a slow reveal where they might steal one of your own stories and turn it into their own, regardless of whether you are there or not. Or perhaps they claimed your ideas, took credit for your work. Did they spin a story that you both know from a perspective that was untrue or hyperbolous? Perhaps the overwhelming sense that they are insulting your intelligence  by telling you a lie that you both know to be a lie? Perhaps it's just a gut feeling that something is not right.

Whether Barry's behaviours indicate some sort of personality disorder or not, the extraordinary and absurd lengths he went to to oppress and manipulate his partners speaks volumes for the callous disregard he had for other people's welfare. It was not so much about reaching a goal or endgame, rather than simply playing a game, albeit with unwitting and unwilling players, with a desire to inflate his sense of desirability and importance, his own most desperate need.

PART 5 - Barry's Paradox

Eventually, after being made redundant from another string of small jobs, Barry got the job offer of a lifetime overseas. Barry, not wanting to place all his eggs in one basket, begged Georgina, Samara and Alexandra to move there with him. Samara couldn't, Georgina wouldn't, but Alexandra bought a plane ticket, began searching for work and planned to eventually join him there.

Christmas time rolled around and things became quite complex for poor old Barry. There were weddings, funerals, Xmas lunches and New Years events to organise, and his three girlfriends would have to be kept on a much tighter schedule. Georgina was taken to a family engagement party. Samara was taken to Xmas lunch at his mother's farm and Alexandra was invited to New Years with Nate and Barry's brother.

At one point he went to Central QLD with Alexandra to visit her family, however he told Samara that he went to Melbourne to visit an old friend (who no longer liked him). He told Georgina that he was going to Melbourne before his frequent flyer points expired. He also spent the entire time messaging both Samara and Georgina bemoaning his loneliness without them, while synchronously ingratiating himself with Alexandra's family.

As New Years Eve approached, Georgina felt it was a good time to spend together, especially as they were trying to really make a go of their relationship, with plans to find an apartment together in 2016. Barry told her that unfortunately he was spending the day with his sister to write his Nan's eulogy. Samara also felt that she and Barry should spend New Years together, but unfortunately, as he explained further, he had to go to his sister's place to write his Nan's eulogy because Georgina's family had BEGGED him to write her grandfather's eulogy (they didn't. He read 'The Last Post'), and he was so fantastic and brilliant at it (he wasn't) that everyone sobbed while he read it. Barry would have been a good candidate for Zoolander's School for Children Who Can't Read Good. (Georgina's grandfather, however had hated Barry from the moment he met him, 12 years earlier and had always maintained that he was undeserving of his granddaughter). Therefore, he should write his own Nan's eulogy.

Some people might find using your own grandmother's death to enable your affairs to be somewhat distasteful, yet it seems that Barry thought it was very generous of his late Nan to provide such an airtight alibi for the occasion. Interestingly, Alexandra was the one who ended up re-writing and editing the entire eulogy.

Barry had, in reality, made plans to spend New Years with Alexandra. AND his brother and Nate. No eulogy. Thankfully, Barry still remembered to message both Georgina and Samara (copy and paste text) at midnight to profess his undying love to them and reassuring them that he wished they were with him. Messages he sent while standing right beside Alexandra.

Now, because Barry likes to push his luck, when he went overseas he first offered Georgina the opportunity to pay for his plane ticket.

Georgina was not feeling generous, and turned down this glorious offer.

A sendoff wouldn't be complete without a celebration and Georgina, Samara and Alexandra, all separately tried to organise a farewell party for Barry. Barry very wisely saw that this could be a bit awkward and made efforts to ensure that no party was had. By the time he was ready to go overseas, both Georgina and Samara had decided definitively that their relationships with Barry were unsustainable and they were not prepared to continue a long distance relationship.

With the 'big move' just around the corner, Alexandra was busy preparing Barry’s apartment; cleaning, packing and organising his house and belongings, all while he continued his pattern of messaging and throwing himself at both Georgina and Samara. There had been some recent incidents, particularly while packing up his apartment, that had made Alexandra wary. Nothing, however, could have prepared her for the reality of the situation.

While packing up Barry’s apartment before his triumphant move overseas, Alexandra was starting to find items of other women's clothing. There was a dress that he said was an old dress belonging to Georgina (but actually belonged to Samara) and a mystery bag of women's underwear (belonging to none of the three girls). Niggling doubts were beginning to pervade her mind for the first time and Barry’s assurances were neither forthcoming nor robust.

After leaving Alexandra’s house early on the morning of his flight, he graciously ‘allowed’ Georgina to bid him farewell at the airport. It should have been the final goodbye but being the thoughtful and caring person that Barry is, he continued to message Georgina throughout his flight… as well as copying and pasting the same sentiments of love and loss to Samara and Alexandra.

He continued to  beg all three women to join him overseas. He convinced all three that he was regretting the move, and was so terribly lonely and sad without them. He begged them all to come for holidays so that they could at least try and work things out. His messages were direct copies that he sent to all three women; copy and paste. Remember, what he lacks in imagination, Barry makes up for in practicality (work smarter, not harder?).

Barry had coached both Samara and Alexandra over the months, on how to further secure their Facebook settings from prying eyes, and had a similar set up on his own Facebook settings so that no one could tag him without his permission. By now, he had exerted wide control over their social media accounts to prevent such 'evidence' leaking out. Alexandra, however, wanted to show the world that she and Barry were together and in love, in spite of the tiring need to be considerate of his crazy ex-girlfriends' feelings.

Struggling with the heartache of a long distance relationship, Alexandra changed her profile picture soon after Barry’s departure, to a photo of her on a couch* with Barry's heavily tattooed arm around her. Georgina immediately recognised the arm as Barry's and the couch as hers* and realised exactly what Barry had been hiding. Finally there was hard evidence to back up her suspicions.

Georgina contacted Alexandra by private message, to try and warn her what situation Barry had dragged her into.

It didn't go exactly to plan.

Part 6