Breakups meant heartbreak, tears, and many, many fights.
Luckily, those weren’t words I would describe my first breakup with.
I’d say mine was…calm, eye-opening, and relieving.
Thankfully, AJ made it easy for both of us.
We met two years ago on my first day of college, and at first, I had thought he would be that kind of guy I could call a friend and hang out with whenever my best friend, Evie, didn’t have time for me.
But the more time I spent with AJ, the closer we got, and I realized that maybe he was that kind of friend who could show me a good time whenever I needed it.
Turned out we never got to the good time part.
Instead, we hung out a lot, even kissed whenever we felt like it, but I never let him get further than that.
It also turned out that keeping my heart locked up while I let him get close to me wasn’t such a good idea, as he was starting to catch feelings for me.
We never talked about it.
About what we were and what we wanted to be in the near future.
It was always clear to me that AJ was someone I could trust and spend time with when I was bored, then send home whenever I needed some alone time.
He, on the other hand, thought we were dating, and I was just playing hard to get.
Not sure how that was what it seemed like to him, but I wouldn’t call it dating.
Somehow, things ended up with me slipping into this weird relationship with him, where we would kiss whenever we saw each other on campus, or hold hands and dance together at parties, but we would never say what we felt for each other.
I loved him.
I really did…but not like that.
AJ’s a nice guy, maybe even too nice.
Especially for a girl like me who doesn’t know shit about love.
At twenty, I shouldn’t have life all figured out and be in a stable relationship though, right?
I should be having fun, which I did have, and I shouldn’t be thinking about marriage and children.
Anyway, back to the relationship I had with AJ.
This morning, we sat down and talked.
We finally talked.
And although we were both quiet at first, we quickly picked up a nice, easy-going conversation.
It was obvious that we had different ideas of where this was going, but in the end, we agreed on staying friends since we still attended the same college and would cross paths every day.
Not to mention all the friends we had in common.
And after agreeing on staying friends, and never going back to what we had before, I happily walked out of the frat house he lived in to head back to my dorm.
I was in the middle of moving out of it.
Evie, whose parents owned an apartment complex close to campus, had a spare room after her roommate moved out.
Instead of looking for someone, she offered me the room without hesitation.
I didn’t think it would be such a good idea to live with your best friend, but I couldn’t say no as my dorm was insanely small and hard to stay in.
It was dark, and the sun never shone into the window, which was depressing.
Evie’s apartment complex had a nice view over the fields of Riverton, Wyoming.
We both grew up around here, and decided that Central College was where we wanted to go after high school.
It’s our home, and neither of us wanted to leave town.
I loved being close to my family, even if they now moved onto the country side, a few hours away from Riverton.
I still saw them at least twice a month, but it was nice having a little distance between us to not get on each other’s nerves.
When I arrived in my dorm, I grabbed my phone and checked my messages, but I didn’t see anything other than Evie’s calls I missed.
I tapped the screen and tucked my phone between my shoulder and ear to continue packing my suitcases.
“How did he take it?” Evie asked first thing after picking up.
“Good, I think. We’re friends now,” I told her, puckering my lips.
“We’ll see how long that’ll last.” I could hear her roll her eyes. “When will you be here? I grabbed a few things for tonight to make pizza. And I also put a few movies onto my list to watch.”
“I need a few more hours. I have to clean the dorm once I’ve finished packing,” I explained.
“Want me to pick up some of your stuff?” she asked.