Biker's Virgin

"Sorry. I forgot to turn my ringer back on after my test," I said, trying to jolt myself into a better headspace. "I should have asked you to bring something with you, the fridge is bare."

"I grabbed a bite to eat after my paper today. I'm so glad the semester's almost over. Just one more test tonight," she said. One of her classes was at night, a general education course she had taken because she didn't want to end up taking it sophomore year.

"Already done," I quipped.

"Ugh, I'm jealous," she said. "I can't wait to be home again. I'm not looking forward to longer hours at work, but at least I won't have to juggle that with school," she said.

"That sounds great," I said, coming to sit on the couch with her. I had heard maybe half of what she had said and guessed the rest.

"This girl in my statistics class is an international student; she invited her boyfriend to spend summer with her and her family in Italy, can you believe that?" she said.

"At least they're staying together," I said mostly to myself, dazed before I realized that wasn't the sort of response Tiff had been looking for. She sat up straight, her eyes scrutinizing my face.

"Are you alright?" she asked suddenly. I bit my lip and shook my head. "What happened?"

"Ask your brother," I said bitterly.

"Roman? What did he do?"

"What does it mean when a guy tells you out of nowhere after almost three years that it's over?" I asked. Tiffany's jaw fell open.

"He didn't."

"He did. I had the same reaction."

"What? No way. Wait, I don't get it. He just said it was over? How did he do it?" she asked. Tiffany and I had known each other almost as long as Roman and I had. She was a year behind me, but we had met the first time Roman had brought me home to meet his dad, two or three months in, then she had joined our college the next fall.

She had basically been there since the beginning, and I had gotten as close to her as I had to her brother. I was an only child, so she filled the void that I didn't have a real sister to fill. She knew everything that happened between Roman and me.

She was my best friend so she heard everything anyway, but it had been almost three years since we had gotten together. I was close with his dad – their whole family, really. I had spent breaks at their house and gone on vacation with them a couple times. This was definitely news to her.

"I was waiting for him after his exam, just like normal. We were talking, and I mentioned that he had been a little weird lately. We haven't been talking as much this past week. I thought it was just finals, and he'd be back to normal now that the semester is ending. He asked me to come to his apartment, and then he got weird. He started saying he didn't want to be with me anymore and this was the end, just like that, out of nowhere. Totally blindsided me."

"Did he tell you why?"

"He didn't want to. He just kept saying it wasn't working anymore and he didn't want me."

"I can't believe he would say that to you," she said.

"Did he tell you anything? Did he do anything that would make you think this was where his head was?"

"No, nothing. I would have told you something if he did. Ron, I felt like I knew you before we even met. When we talked he would always bring you up, ask me whether it was too soon to introduce you to our dad, tell me he thought we'd get along, and stuff. I think we all knew he was in love with you before he even said it to you." I felt tears brim in my eyes and blinked them away.

"Whatever. Like he said, it's over now."

"Are you just giving up?" she demanded.

"How am I supposed to fight when he said he was done? I'm not that pathetic, Tiff. I can't beg a person to talk to me when they've already told me how they really feel to my face."

"I'm going to talk to him," she said.

"About what?" I scoffed.

"I want to ask him whether he's lost his mind. Something obviously happened. Roman wouldn't do something like that to you."

"He already did, Tiff; it's a little late for that."

"Well, he can't get away with it."