Late Night Revelations

Anonymous Hungry Deviant #185 · General

I've been working as a bartender for over five years now, but the last few months have been tough since my divorce. I thought it was a clean break and I could move on, focus on my career and start dating again. But that's not how things turned out. One night, after closing, I ran into this guy who used to come in regularly when I was still married. Let's call him Jake for the sake of this confession. We hadn't spoken since before my divorce, so it caught me off guard seeing him there at the bar, ordering a drink like he owned the place. We got talking about old times and how life has changed. He mentioned his new girlfriend and I talked about getting back on track with dating. But as we spoke, an odd feeling came over me. Maybe because of the alcohol or the familiarity of this space that used to be part of our married lives, but a desire to reconnect in ways beyond platonic conversation grew inside of me. Before I knew it, things got heated between us and... well, let's just say there was more going on than friendly chats at closing time. We didn't cross the line completely, but enough that we both knew what could have happened if one of us hadn't stopped it. The next day, after sobering up and realizing how far I had pushed things with a married man (and my ex), I felt awful. So here's the question: Am I an asshole for letting old feelings get in the way of moving forward? Was this just about nostalgia or was there more to it that I need to confront? It feels like I'm stuck between honoring what happened now and truly finding closure from before. And worst of all, I worry that my actions may have hurt someone else's relationship without any real thought for them. This confession is not asking anyone to judge me or offer advice; I just needed a place to process this situation out loud.