We Broke Up Over Milk

Someone off to the side laughed. "Don't get too confident. Adam's sharp enough that there's no shortage of girls chasing him. What if he gets into somewhere even better than us?"Lisa let out a scornful little laugh, her tone careless. "Even better. Some peace and quiet for once. Let him go bang his head against a wall and figure out reality. Who does he think he is, reaching that high?"Then came the line I'd heard a hundred times before. "He's always so petty. Is Freddy's stuff really worth making such a big deal over?"The camera shifted slightly and caught Freddy in the frame.He pouted, his voice dripping with familiar, needy affection. "Exactly! The second you get a boyfriend, you forget all about me! Years of our families being close, and you don't even care about me anymore!"That got a laugh out of everyone standing around.Someone compared me to Freddy, calling me the "academic type" and him the "social type."I knew exactly what that meant: that I was too uptight, too

I'd voiced my frustration before, about how hurt I'd felt.Lisa always had the same explanation. "Freddy's parents specifically asked me to look out for him; he's basically like a little brother to me. Adam, can you just be a little more understanding about this?"Eventually she stopped bothering to explain at all. She'd handle whatever Freddy needed first, as a matter of habit, then get around to smoothing things over with me afterward, almost as an afterthought.And somehow, every single time, I talked myself into accepting that twisted set of priorities.Until the day it rained.It was the deadline for forming project teams for a major assignment in our major, the kind that could make or break a semester. Lisa and I had agreed weeks earlier that we'd team up, and we needed to finalize and submit before the cutoff.But that afternoon, I couldn't reach her no matter what I tried. Her phone went straight to voicemail. She never answered a single message.Terrified something

My composure seemed to unnerve Lisa more than anything. "But Adam, you're my boyfriend! I just need you to be a little more understanding. Once things calm down...""Lisa," I cut her off again. I'd heard the same tired excuses too many times to sit through another round. "We already broke up. Your responsibilities, your 'family', none of that has anything to do with me anymore."I stepped around her and kept walking.Even after I'd gone some distance, I could still faintly hear Freddy whining behind me and Lisa's irritated attempts to calm him down.Later, I heard through a friend that Lisa had posted something on social media about how hard it was to communicate with people, and that when she was out drinking with friends, she still insisted, "He's just sulking. He'll be fine once graduate school applications are over."She was still living inside a story she'd written for herself, and she never actually woke up from it.A day later, I went to the registrar's office for my tra

Just then, a loud crash rang out in the background, like a chair had been kicked over, followed by the sharp sound of a glass shattering and a chorus of panicked shouting."Lisa!""Lisa, are you okay?!"Chaos erupted on the other end of the line.I hung up without a flicker of expression, then blocked that number too, just as cleanly as all the others.About two hours later, an announcement came over the loudspeaker calling my flight to board.I took a deep breath and headed toward security.I made it through without any trouble and started walking toward my gate.Behind me, the sound of frantic running and someone shouting my name shattered the airport's relative calm."Adam! Adam, stop!"I froze. The voice was so familiar, and yet so distorted with strain that it almost didn't sound like her at all.I turned around and saw Lisa barreling across the terminal with complete disregard for anyone around her, hair a mess, eyes rimmed red, her coat hanging open. She looked utte

A deep exhaustion washed over me. I didn't want to waste another word on this.That's when a cool, even voice cut in. "Adam, need a hand?"Nancy had just stepped out of the building, a folder tucked under her arm, clearly on her way to the lab.She walked over, glanced past Lisa with total indifference, then looked at me. "There's an issue with the project data. We need to go over it now."Her timing was perfect, her tone so natural it was like we'd planned this in advance.I turned to Lisa. "I have somewhere to be. You should head back."Then I fell into step beside Nancy and headed toward the lab.Lisa stood frozen in place, watching me walk off with another girl, disbelief written all over her face.Her expression cycled through shock, resentment, and finally something like recognition, the realization that I truly had left her world behind for good.After that, Lisa seemed to show up near campus once or twice more, briefly.But I ignored her completely.My life filled up