They're both miserable; they need to take a break

On an otherwise unspectacular night, while Elizabeth and I were chatting on the phone, she whispered, “We haven’t had a chance to really experience college, have we? I don’t mean hooking up with other people, I mean—”

“I know what you mean.”

No matter how many new and exciting experiences we’d had since starting college, we both missed each other so deeply and so constantly that we couldn’t let ourselves enjoy any of it. Our long-distance relationship did more than just keep us from getting laid, it was something that weighed down on every aspect of our lives.

Exhausted, we both grudgingly agreed to take a break. We weren’t “breaking up,” exactly, we were just clearing out the storm clouds. We needed to know what college was like without a long-distance relationship, before we could really know for sure whether we were making the right choice.

I had a lot of trouble studying for my midterms that week.

In a daze, I went out to grab a coffee and, as luck would have it, found Jessica working at the café. I was enough of a regular that Jessica didn’t even bother with taking my order anymore, she just poured me a tall black coffee the second I walked in the door (it was all I could ever afford.)

Jessica saw the ragged look on my face when I came to collect my drink and asked, “Hey Ian, are you okay?”

“Yeah. Just tired.”

I deliberately tried to be nonchalant about it. I was in too weird a mood to go fishing for pity hugs, even when those hugs would mean feeling my favorite barista’s big, soft boobs squeezing up against me.

“Are you sure?”

I wasn’t. And the more I tried to avoid staring at her chest, the more I felt my resolve wane. Come to think of it, why the hell didn’t I deserve a few big-breasted pity hugs? I’d had a tough week, and damn if she didn’t look terrific in the tight white polo shirt they made the baristas wear.