They go back to being monogomous

Graduation was kind of underwhelming after that.

As far as I was concerned, high school culminated on prom Night. It climaxed when I did. And, though none of us realized it at the time, it was also the beginning of the end for our little group. There was no great falling out, no dramatic schism of loyalties, really no negative feelings whatsoever. We all still loved each other, in one way or another. Whatever **** caused us to drift apart, I couldn’t tell you.

But after that night, the chemistry somehow changed. What had once been a gang of six single friends became a collection of couples. Corrine even started dating Jake, leaving Amy as the lone remaining member of our group not in a committed relationship.

At the same time, an unexpected side-effect of graduating meant the end of us seeing each other every day in class or during lunch. Hanging out together required us to arrange get-togethers, and the erratic schedules of our summer retail jobs made it nearly impossible to pin down everyone in the same place at the same time.

Still, that summer was amazing. One of the best times of my life. I spent every free minute with one or more of my incredible friends, and all the while my relationship with Elizabeth continued to get more and more intense. Sometimes frighteningly so.

Knowing it was all going to end soon made every experience sweeter and more vibrant, though there was an undeniable pang of desperation there as well. Every afternoon spent sitting around by myself meant one less afternoon with my friends. One less afternoon with the woman I was falling horribly in love with.

The other couples figured their shit out way before we did: Rachel and Talia were going to Berkely together, meaning they had nothing to worry about. Simon and Stephanie had agreed to try the long-distance thing, with the hope that he would be able to transfer to her school after a semester or two of junior college. Corrine and Jake, much as they liked each other, were keeping things pretty casual and both knew that their relationship was just a summer thing.

It wasn’t like Elizabeth and I avoided the issue. We talked constantly about what we were going to do at summer’s end. Breaking up was unthinkable, but so was the alternative of a long-distance love. We even discussed one of us transferring after a semester, but her transcript wouldn’t get her to MIT, and I’d be seriously cheating myself out of career choices going to a state school. More often then not, these impossible discussions ended in tears and passionate love-making, leaving us more confused then ever.

I guess it was actually kind of fucked-up, now that I think about it, but then so is the human heart. In any case, the month of August inexorably reared his ugly head, regardless of what we did or said to each other.

One by one, they left. First Stephanie, then Amy, then Talia and Rachel. Each departure bringing tears and hugs all around. Solace in the arms of our remaining friends. We all joked that it was like surviving a slasher film, our friends being bumped off one by one.

Frankly, it was too horrible for words. Elizabeth and I finally came to the miserable decision that we would call it quits at the end of the summer. We were just teenagers, weren’t we? Seemingly every person we turned to for advice helpfully informed us that it would be a mistake for us to stay together. Who were we to argue with the entire world?

Then came the awful day of my flight to Massachusetts. Elizabeth had promised to help me pack, but when we started loading up the suitcases, she broke down and simply couldn’t bring herself to do it.

“What are we going to do?!” she cried.

I tried to take her in my arms, but she angrily shrugged me off. With heavy heart, I asked, “What do you want to do?”

“Not this! Anything but this.”

I felt an awful tightening in my guts. The air in the room was **** me.