Simpsational

Desperate Messures

Jace

There was no way he was lasting a month. He kept thinking of things he needed to do, little ways he'd helped Kayla that were now going undone. He knew this was a test. Did he love her enough to give her the space she needed? He was so much better for her than the guys she tried dating. Maybe, after a year of their selfish use of her, she would realize how much better a boyfriend he would be.

Then there was the sex. It had been so much better than anything he'd imagined, and he'd imagined it being pretty amazing. It was like they'd melded, becoming a single person made up of pure pleasure. How could he not think of her? Thinking of anything else was impossible.

He would see her at graduation in two weeks. Even though he and her brother Bryan weren't as close as they once were, they and their families would still interact. They all had to be there. She wouldn't see it as breaking the rules. He'd talk to her there.

He needed a plan beyond that, however. He scrolled through his contacts and called his grandfather.

"This's Chuck," came his gravelly voice.

"Hi, grandpa. It's Jace."

"Hello, Jace."

It was never easy talking to Chuck. "I was wondering if I could come work for you?"

There was a pause. "It's hard work." Chuck ran an adventure company in Arizona. Camping, fishing, hunting, horses, you name it.

"I know that grandpa."

"We don't have that internet thing." Or cell coverage, which Jace knew, having been there a number of times.

There was rarely a point with Chuck, however, so Jace just repeated, "I know, grandpa."

"Alright. I'll find you a bunk for the summer."

Here came the hard part. "I was hoping for more like a year."

Jace had all his excuses and justifications ready, but all Chuck said was, "That works too."

When Jace hung up the call, his thumb automatically pulling up Instagram before he remembered he had no reason to do so.

Two weeks. He only had to make it two weeks.

Kayla

Kayla was putting too much thought into graduation. She didn't want to send the wrong message. She just wasn't sure what message she wanted to send.

He was a little like an ex-boyfriend. She wanted to show him that she was doing just fine without him. She could do her own laundry, pay her own bills, even fuel up her own car. But she didn't want the sexy, look-what-you've-lost ex-girlfriend look.

They were a little like friends. They paid attention to what was going on in one another's lives, cared about each other, took one another for granted. But she didn't want him to think that opened the door to continued interaction while they were taking this break.

They were a little like lovers. She certainly craved the constant adoration he showered her with. He, presumably, got something out of it. She wanted to hold onto that, wanted a way to keep feeling it while not having him around. She had no idea how to do that, and what they really both needed was for him to fall in love with someone else.

And that made her sad.

The day came and she decided to go full ex-girlfriend with her dress. They'd been naked the last time together. If this was to replace that memory of the last one of her, she was entitled to make it a good one.

What she said to him was a different matter.

They made small talk as their families interacted, but Jace managed to corner her in a private moment. "I miss you, Kayla."