I got up to a good pace and cruised around the neighborhood. It was peaceful running in the morning, and had been something I had always done to clear my mind and relax a bit, just zoning out and focusing on my pacing. Before I knew it I was in a familiar part of town, running a well-known course without even realizing it.

      It was where my ex lived, and this was the way I used to run when I was dating her. What a terrible relationship, I thought to myself. We had been good friends all throughout high school. We started dating when I entered the service, and I was confident she would stick with me. This was not the case. Roxanne had cheated on me while I was gone. By the time I got back she promptly dumped me, as I obviously wouldn’t approve of her behavior. The nice girl I knew in high school had changed quite a bit, and I had become an obstacle to her good time. Sometime after our breakup I found out about her extra “activities”.

      I promptly exited her neighborhood and headed back home.

      Evelyn was gone by the time I made it back. I found a note on the table- “Thanks for the breakfast. Looking forward to “seeing” you tonight. Love, Evy” I smiled as I pocketed the note. She was always leaving sexy notes like that. I quickly got ready for class eager to meet the day.

      It was the second week of the new semester. My first few classes went by easily enough, until my afternoon Asian history class. I had little to no knowledge base on that subject, so I thought that it was going to be difficult going for me. Mentally preparing myself to absorb information I hurriedly entered the classroom. I usually sat near the back, and I was so caught up clearing my mind that I hadn’t noticed there was a new person sitting next to me. Unfortunately I spotted her just as I sat down.

      “Hey Jack.” Roxanne said genuinely.

      “Oh. Hi.” My mind raced furiously. It was too late to pick another spot; the instructor had just entered. Besides, that would be rather rude of me. I wouldn’t want to give my ex any more reason to be bitchy with me.

      “Well it’s certainly surprising to run into you here. I thought I’d never see you again after you left.”

      “You dumped me.” I stated dumbly. I was never good at talking with women, especially when I was uncomfortable. I could tell that the more this conversation continued the more this problem would compound.

      “Yeah well, I was going through some rough times. I just needed to get it all sorted out, you know. I hope you’re not sore about the whole thing.” She put her hand on my shoulder.

      “Yeah it must have been really rough while I was in the Army.” I needed to put an end to this and stop being so passive.

      “We did used to be friends, long ago. I was thinking maybe we could be friends again.”
 
      “We did used to be friends.” I agreed. What would Evelyn think if she saw me talking with this whore? Roxanne did seem rather genuine though. Maybe she meant it. I did used to think of her as my best friend back in the day.

      “Well hey, class is starting, we should talk afterwards.” She smiled and turned to the instructor. I was confused by the whole encounter. My last memory of her was when she dumped me for being “too nice” and how she didn’t want to be tied down. After that the rumors started flowing. I would hear about her wild drinking and partying, all the guys she had been seeing, and about how she talked with all our old high school friends about dumping me months before she did it.  She immediately started going out with some other guy I didn’t even know, but at that point I hardly cared anymore. Now she wanted to extend her hand in friendship? No way.

      I turned to look at her. She was wearing a low cut red top and black skirt and sandals. She was about 5’4” with blue eyes and long brown hair. She was a smaller woman, with thicker thighs and calves, but pretty. As I watched she crossed her legs and her skirt rode up her thigh a bit, exposing her legs slightly. She stretched her back, pushing her boobs against her top. She was a fairly attractive woman, even if she did tear my heart out.

      Before I knew it class was over. Roxanne turned to me and asked “Want to get something to eat with me? We can catch up.” It seemed innocent enough so I agreed. I felt like I had regained control of the situation and besides, maybe I could finally tell Roxanne exactly what I thought of her.
 
      She led me to the campus Subway, we ordered and sat down. I made sure to order something small so I could have an excuse to escape. Guilt quickly set it when I thought of the kind of day Evelyn was having. Here I was talking with my cheating ex while she was hard at work.

      “So what are you doing these days Jack?” Roxanne asked innocently.

      “Just going to school. I’m living in an apartment downtown,” I replied curtly.

      “Oh? How’s that going for you? Do you have any roommates?”

      “Affirmative. I live with my girlfriend.” I took a huge bite out of my sandwich. Take that, bitch.

      “Oh. I see. Is she nice? What does she do?” Roxanne didn’t sound particularly interested anymore.
 
      “She’s a manager of a research facility. She’s pretty amazing.” I was almost done with the sandwich at this point.

      “Oh well, hey, I’m happy for you. I’m not seeing anyone at the moment myself. I thought that I should get my life in line and do something productive, so here I am! At college to be a history teacher.” She nodded awkwardly.

      “Cool.” I wasn’t going to make this conversation easy.
 
      “We used to be pretty good friends. We’d hang out and do all kinds of fun stuff. We should do that again. Maybe you could help me with my history- you used to be really smart about all that stuff,” she leaned in as she spoke, and her voice lowered.

      “Honestly any assistance I could provide would be wasted. I’m not particularly good at Asian history.”

      “Well two minds are better than one. Listen I have to go, but you should call me sometime. We could really do a lot of good work together. Here’s my number, in case you forgot.” She stood up and scribbled a number on my napkin, bending over in front of me. As she stooped her cleavage became exposed, and I could almost see her entire boob with the way her top hung from her chest. I remembered that I had really liked those boobs when we were dating and my member stirred slightly at the thought.

      “I’ll see you in class Jack.” She put her hand on my shoulder, smiled, and turned to leave. Her perfumed hung faintly in the air as she sauntered away. That didn’t go as planned, I thought to myself as I cleaned the table up. I was supposed to be the one that left early. This was typical though. She had always seemed to be one step ahead of me in conversations, and she was this time too. Next time I would have to be more assertive and tell her exactly what I thought of her.