Past is still present to me. What do I do?
To whom it may concern:
I will try and make this short and concise, but I don't want to leave out any details. My girlfriend and I have been dating for 5 months, we both just finished our sophomore year at our respective universities. We went to high-school together and have known each other for around 4 years. There has always been a connection between the two of us, however in high school I was a "player" and thus she never felt any of my advances were genuine. So we never were more than friends. We went to prom senior year of high school and continued talking through the freshman year of college and eventually began to "hook up" over winter break of our sophomore year of college. Things were great after winter break and she was officially my girlfriend throughout spring semester 2013.
However, one quote that always stuck with me was said by a former classmate during junior year of high school regarding my girlfriend (when I liked her a lot even though I wasn't very sincere in showing it) he basically told me she used to give him oral sex when they would hang out and hook up. Not wanting to seem sad I played it off cool and never acted like it hurt me. Another incident was our senior year of high-school when at a party I was trying to kiss her she sat me down and explained to me how she had sex with two different guys earlier in the year and did not want to be hurt again. Seeing as we were both intoxicated I was rude and upset her, causing for me having no shot romantically senior year. Later that year we eventually became friends and ended up going to prom as I said before.
(Two more short stories before I get to the point I"m sorry)
During 2nd semester 2013 while we were dating I said that I couldn't believe we dated 5 months and that I had never had a relationship this long - hence me being a player - and she replied that 5 months isn't that big of a deal. I was surprised because she NEVER openly dated anyone in high-school, so I had no clue who she would have been with. So one night I told her how upset I have been about not knowing her past and she told me everything, it was not as bad as I thought, but worse than what I wanted. Sex with 3 guys, none of which she technically dated, all in high-school, and none of them actually cared about her. And recently (last week) one of my good friends made a joke about my girlfriend being a virgin before me, the only problem was he believed it was true. So it was very uncomfortable having to pretend that I thought she was a virgin in order to avoid my friend's shock.(Multiple good friends of mine know the truth and also multiple good friends do not) Since he said that I have not been able to shake the thoughts of her and her 3 partners from my head.
So many questions.
Why did she do it?
Did she like it that much?
If the first one hurt you then why the second, why the third?
How did you feel after?
Why would you go back to their house if you felt bad about yourself?
Do you try to protect yourself from me because of them?
And countless others.
She loves me now and I love her so much, and that is what's killing me. She has matured and changed SO MUCH and I know it is easy to say just forget about the past, but I hate the fact that I am dating a girl who is still considered a "slut" by some guys today because no matter how much you change, history doesn't and the stories are there.
Also she is beginning to be fed up with me bringing it up all the time, but I feel it is unfair because she has had 4 years to get over this while I am just now coming to terms with these facts.
I am hurting BAD over all of this and just want to know HOW DO I STOP CARING ABOUT THE PAST?
Thank you