Olé, Olé, Olé.

The next week was hell. I now felt lucky to have so much school and work to occupy myself. It was hard for me to focus, but I stayed busy, without having to think too much, with monotonous paperwork at the card store, transcriptions for my Assistantship, and mindless copying of notes during lectures. I wasn't hiding under my covers so hey, that counts for something. 

I'm sure it comes to no surprise by now that I don't handle break ups well, but every time I felt myself getting upset or thinking of how much I missed Justin, I simply took a few deep breathes and thought to myself, "it's for the best."

I went through the weekdays without telling anybody. Nobody asked how he was, so I didn't have to lie. I just omitted the truth.

Then, Friday night rolled around. Darlene wanted to get dinner at a Mexican restaurant near us. I confirmed that I was free and Anna said she'd pick everyone up around 8.

We sat down at a table in the back corner. It was pretty packed. There were parents with their young kids, in addition to high school kids throwing napkins at each other and couples on dates (you could tell some were first dates while other couples had been together for a while based on the varying outfits and body language). The waiters and waitresses were wearing obnoxiously big sombreros. Some of them really embraced the theme and others simply tolerated it. As soon as our waitress (who fell into the latter category) came over, I ordered a giant watermelon margarita. "Okay, that traditionally is made for two," she informed me.

"Yes, perfect," I said with a smile. She took everyone else's order before smiling at us and walking away.

"Ready to go champ?" Darlene asked me with a snicker.

I took a deep breathe. "Yup, considering Justin and I broke up."

The three of them broke out into mirroring expressions of shock. "I'm so sorry, Caroline!" Anna said. "When did this happen?"

"Monday," I said without making eye contact with any of them.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Jessica asked, more disappointed by not being in on the gossip than concerned about the reason.

I shrugged. "I tried not to think about it."

Anna, who was sitting to my right, leaned over and gave me a side hug. "I'm sorry," she softly said. "I'm glad you were able to do it, though. I know you were on the fence but questioning a relationship that early isn't good."

I nodded while I processed what Anna said. Wait, she thought I broke up with him? I guess it was the logical conclusion, since I had told them I was thinking about ending the relationship. Regardless, I had to clear this up.

"Um, yeah, but," I began as I picked up my fork and twirled it on the table. "He broke up with me."

"What?" Darlene loudly blurted out. If a table a few feet away hadn't been singing happy birthday, the whole restaurant probably would've heard her. It actually made me crack a smile.

"Well, yeah. I brought some of our issues up over dinner. I just asked him if he'd be okay with me being so busy this semester and if he was comfortable with everything else in our relationship. He said he was but then landed this bombshell on me once we were outside my house."

"Coward," Jessica muttered as the waitress arrived with our drinks. "Can we also get some chips and queso for the table?" The waitress nodded to Jessica's question. "You need some empty calories," she said to me with a smile.

I politely asked them if we could return to this topic later. I needed a break. Anna nabbed the opportunity to ask our opinion about this guy she's been hanging out with. "He says he doesn't want a relationship, and that's fine with me because we're just having fun, but then he acts all cute and wants to cuddle and go out to dinner. What do you think that means?"

I suppressed my desire to roll my eyes when she said she was fine with him not wanting a relationship. Anna was the type to play the field and I admired that about her, but I had a feeling it was mainly because she was scared of being hurt again. "If I don't have any relationships, I don't have to deal with break ups, right?" She jokingly asked me once. While I knew she saw plenty of guys over the past few months, this guy Chris, seemed to really stick. He definitely didn't want a girlfriend, though, and I think Anna was hoping she'd change his mind.

"I don't know," Darlene said first. "I'm sure he likes you, but didn't Courtney say he's never been a relationship guy?" Courtney is Chris and Anna's mutual friend who they met through.

"Yeah, but then why's he acting like this?" Anna asked, her voice hopeful.

"A guy can like the aspects of having a girlfriend," I began. "You know, having someone to sleep next to and text throughout the day, but if he gets that without making you his girlfriend, I don't know if he's going to change."

Anna dramatically pouted her bottom lip out. "I guess you guys are right," she admitted. We ordered our entrees shortly after and then talked a little bit more about Chris before our food arrived.

"Okay," Darlene said after her first bite of her enchilada. "Well, we are all single. I think that's call for some sort of celebratory night out. Who knows? Maybe we'll meet a hot set of quadruplets and all be married in a year."

"Oh, goodness," Jessica said as we all clinked our glasses and giggled at the idea.

"So, tomorrow night?" Darlene asked, looking at all of us for our reactions. "I'll drive to Nostalgic." Everyone agreed and I started mentally planning my 'back on the market' outfit.