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Holly stared at her two best friends across the couch from her. It was late, too late, but all three of them couldn’t sleep. Eric had probably fallen asleep hours ago, but after hearing her roommates’ sob stories, she was too unsettled to sleep.
“Did he say he wanted to see you during the break?” Holly asked Aimee, who was, by far, the worse of the two.
“No,” she said. “He was so sly, made me think the breakup was my idea. I don’t want to break up. He got all excited when I suggested seeing other people to confirm our feelings.”
“Why don’t you tell him how you feel?”
“Yeah, right,” Aimee said. “No way. He looked so ready to move on. I don’t even know why we were dating in the first place if he’s felt like this all along.”
Holly sighed and thought through her relationship training. It only worked on other people, unfortunately. Applying her own advice was usually much more difficult. “Maybe, he just said that because you brought it up. Maybe he doesn’t want to date anyone else either and was faking his excitement.”
Aimee crossed her arms over her chest and frowned. “Doubt it. He’s just like other men. Can’t wait to get to the next girl.”
Holly glanced at Diane, who’d been quiet since she sat down. “What happened with Cameron?”
She clicked her tongue and glanced out the window. “I told him it was fine that he dated other people. It’s a long time to be away from each other. Don’t you think the separation could bring us closer?”
Hope built in Holly’s chest. “Right? That’s what I think too. Long distance can work, girls.”
Aimee huffed and turned away from them. “That’s because you have Eric. He’s the most loyal.”
“Maybe, but it didn’t take him long for his mom to sway him.” She wasn’t sure about the Wisconsin dating options, but there had to be other women who worked with him. Maybe if she just gave him the option, it wouldn’t make him feel like she was trapping him.
She pulled out her phone and brought up Eric’s profile. Would it mess up everything if she casually suggested the same thing her friends had? His roommates probably told him. Would he even want the option?
She sighed and typed out a text.
Crazy about our roommates, huh? If you want, we could leave dating others as an option. Kind of like Diane and Cameron, keeping an open relationship. Something to think about.
Her finger hovered above the send button. She looked away to glance at the time. Three. He still had another hour before he was supposed to leave. Plus, texting when she was tired was a bad idea.
She looked back at her phone and saw her finger had moved to the send button and the message had been sent seconds ago. Crap!
She waited ten minutes for him to send a return text, but nothing came. Maybe she could sneak over to his apartment and delete the text before he even saw it. Yes, that’s what she needed to do. There was enough self-doubt in their relationship already.
Pulling on her hoodie, she slipped past her roommates, who had finally passed out on the couches. The door opened with a squeak, but thankfully no one stirred. It felt weird, and more than a little creepy to sneak across the apartment complex to the guys’ apartment. The lights were off when she made it to their door, but their door was locked. That was unusual. She snuck a look in their apartment. The stove light had been left on, and it illuminated a very empty apartment. Eric’s bags had been by the door earlier. They were gone. Had he packed them in the truck so all he had to do was leave? Everything on the counters was gone, not even a trace of the guys was there. Even if they were all leaving the next day, it didn’t seem right that nothing would be lying on the side of the couch or by the door.
She turned to the parking lot to check for their cars and gasped. There were three empty spaces in front of the apartment where they usually parked. Had they already leftearly?
Her phone buzzed with a call from Eric, and she scrambled to accept the call. “Hello,” she said breathlessly. “Where are you? I came by the apartment to—”
“To what?” he said, his voice hard and unforgiving. He had definitely seen the text. “Erase the text?”
“It was an accident. I was tired and had just been talking to Aimee and Diane. I just wanted you to know it was an option if you wanted it.” It was quiet for a long time while Holly’s heart raced. Shoot! Why had she messed up everything? “I’m sorry, it was stupid.”
“Yeah, it was. We’re different from your roommates.”
She bit her lip to keep from crying. “I know. I’m sorry, I was just—let me come in and we can talk.”
“I left hours ago.” Her stomach fell to the hard cement. “My roommates didn’t want to stay, and I couldn’t sleep. Sounded like a good idea until about five minutes ago.”
She frowned and put her back to his apartment. “Where are you? Maybe I can meet you somewhere? I need you to know that message wasn’t supposed to be sent. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Too far for you to catch up. I’m almost to Rock Springs, Wyoming.”
“Why didn’t you call when you left?”
There was a long pause before he answered. “Because, before I left, I was positive our relationship was not like our roommates’.”
