Ian has to drive back and get to work.

I knew that I couldn't stay the night, so after a lazy, sleepy cuddle I kissed Amy goodbye and drove back up to Stanford. I didn't know this at the time, but that was the only opportunity that I had to visit Amy's campus when we were in school together. We tried, a few times, but something would come up on her end or mine, and it wouldn't happen.

I started talking to Elizabeth on the phone regularly, though. She'd call or I'd call once a week. When breaks came along, I saw more of her than anyone outside my family. It was like summer again. At Thanksgiving and at Christmas we spent nearly every day except the holiday itself, cuddled up with cider or cocoa, falling asleep in each other's arms. She loved her teacher education program, but it didn't leave much time for a social life. She start seeing this guy from her "Human Sexuality" course, but she said they were keeping it casual.

Talia and Rachel didn't come home for breaks. They had both gotten jobs on campus (contributing to how busy they were), and rented an apartment off campus with some theater friends of Rachel's. When I asked about Christmas break, Talia deadpanned, "Everything important to me is here in California." I missed her a lot, and made her promise to make time for me in the spring.

One class hour, the most attractive girl in my program asked to borrow my textbook. Before I knew it, we were chatting about favorite video games and our hometowns. Jessica was a Sacramento native of South Indian descent. She'd been to India a few times, so we chatted about that. Pretty soon, we started seeing a lot of each other. We liked the same movies, read the same books. We liked our coffee the same way, so I started bringing her one on class days.

It was no wonder I had found her intimidating earlier in the semester. Not only was she near the top of our class, but she was also drop-dead gorgeous. Flawlessly smooth, dark skin, long legs, tiny waist, silky black hair that fell to her waist, and absolutely spectacular tits. She was top-heavy: rail thin everywhere except the bust.

She dressed modestly, but in a way that complemented her figure. Tight, high-waisted jeans with a little flare at the bottom, tight floral tops, cut low but tastefully. She wore numerous gold wire bracelets that clinked musically on her thin wrists, and a single stud in her nose. More than once I lost the thread of our conversation, drawn in by the glint of her jewelry, following the elegant line of her nose to her large, almond-shaped eyes. Profoundly black against stark white, almost like a cartoon character. Her teeth were the same brilliant white, against the plush cocoa of her lips.

But at night, it was still Talia who flooded my brain until I couldn't sleep. I liked Jessica a lot. She'd be the perfect college girlfriend. We even talked about it, once, "How crazy would it be if we dated?" I could tell from her looks that she thought of me as more than a friend, but I was paralyzed.

Even Elizabeth, one snowy evening at Christmastime, encouraged me to ask her out when we got back to campus. But then fate intervened.