It had been a month since Jasmine Monahan had left for NYU. A month since she'd started classes and become engrossed in her major. She'd soaked up the academia and a little of the culture, if you included walking across the campus culture. Mostly she read and wrote her assigned texts and reading, and called and texted Colin her various observations. She wasn't trying to deny herself the experiences she tried to convince him to have a go at, she just didn't seem to find the time for it.

Colin wasn't having all that much better luck. He'd found an apartment. And his band was having some luck finding gigs, but aside from that, he wasn't being all that much more outgoing. His friends didn't feel like helping him. Jasmine and Colin were well known and liked couple at their high school. No one understood Jas' idea for this "open relationship". So, it wasn't quite going to plan.

Instead, Jas sent Colin NYU crap. T-shirts, caps, bears and the like. She didn't have much time to visit on weekends. Her classes were advanced placement and pretty much keeping her nose to the grindstone. When she wasn't in class, doing homework, talking or texting Colin, she was sleeping. Her new friends, and roommate, were trying everything to tempt her into getting out at all. Colin was trying to convince her as well. Reminding her that her idea only worked if she gave it a try, too. After sending her a selfie, wearing an NYU shirt and cap, he told her to go have a drink in his honor. And with a sigh, promised he'd do the same.

For Colin, that was the turning point as well, he'd felt like he couldn't hold another girl without seeing Jas' face. Seeing her, and feeling someone else would just be wrong. So he did what any red blooded Boston Irish boy would do. He went out with his boys and got shit faced, then went home with someone who looked nothing like his girlfriend. It was the first and last time he'd ever go home with a girl, from that point on, the girls went to his apartment. It opened up the experiences for him, and for that, he was grateful. He guessed, anyway.

Numbers? Still Not Keeping Track…

~~~~~SIX YEARS LATER~~~~~

"Jas," Colin was saying, as he juggled his guitar, and his apartment key, while he tried to open his door and held his phone to his ear. His across the way neighbor was trying to get out of her apartment while not making eye contact, typical. "I thought you were coming in this weekend?"

"Me too," she said, glaring at her thesis adviser's door where the sign was hanging proclaiming that she couldn't actually take the weekend off as planned, due to the asshole's rearranging schedule. "Unfortunately, I'm standing outside my adviser's office and apparently he arranged the schedule, again." She said something that her mother, and their priest would make her seek confession over. "I was REALLY looking forward to seeing you, Colin." She sighed deeply. "I'm so tired of this."

Colin couldn't deny that he was missing Jasmine too. While filling the void with his overnight guests killed time and gave him something to do, they weren't the same. Not even close. None could or would hold a candle to his Jas. He had been looking forward to this weekend. A full weekend, he couldn't remember when they'd had a full weekend, not since she'd left for NYU six years before. He couldn't fault her for pursuing her dream. She'd never faulted him for doing the same. And the goal was the same, she'd get her Master's and come home to Boston, and teach here, while he pursued his dream. It just sucked being apart.

"So another weekend apart." He knew he sounded pissed, because he was.

"I'm sorry." Her voice sounded small. "I wish," she stopped, knowing it wasn't enough. "I'll let you go, Colin." She hung up, knowing he didn't want to hear anymore excuses.

He hadn't noticed that his neighbor was still standing outside her apartment, nor did he care. He finally let himself into his door, and tossed his guitar case, more carefully than it looked. He sighed and leaned against the open door. Shaking his head, he took another breath. It wasn't her fault. He was just tired and frustrated. Jasmine was the only one he wanted, and he was tired of fill ins.

His cell rang before he could shut his door and he knew it would be one of the guys. Fuck it, he thought, it wasn't like they had a gig. He'd go out and get drunk and find a girl. Slamming his door, he didn't bother to notice if the neighbor was still outside.

DAYS LATER~~~~

Colin's neighbor had come to him, while he was naked and partaking in an apple and picking up his newspaper, to ask for a favor. He was intrigued.

Ally Darling. She was one of "those" girls. The ones that Jas would have wanted to shake sense into. So worried about being seen as broken or somehow gross because they liked sex. He could almost hear Jasmine's voice in his head telling him to help her, if only to show her that she didn't need these losers she was seeking to fix her.

And so, here he was, working on her list. Finding them one by one, and hopefully showing her why each and every one of them didn't work the first time. All the while, he was trying to work through his feelings over missing Jasmine. How he needed to find a way to be with her, if only for a day.

Sighing, he let himself into Ally's apartment, hoping for a cup of coffee while she slept. So focused on his task and his worry about Jas, he accidentally destroyed the glass carafe. "Shit," he whispered. Moving to the sofa, he refocused, considering how to complete the task of finding Ally's exes, and NOT destroy anything else she owned before she woke up.

He smiled, thinking about her lack of social media presence. Taking what he hoped she'd find a flattering picture of her sleeping, he started her a Facebook page, mentioned in a Tweet the broken coffee carafe, and friended her on her new page. He hoped that Jasmine would notice his new altruism. They hadn't spoken in days, and the texts weren't coming at all. He hadn't seen any emails either, now that he thought about it. Looking online, he checked her Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. No new posts were on any of her accounts. She hadn't been online at all, if they were to be believed. He checked his phone, and noticed that a call had come in the days before, but he didn't remember it. It had been answered, not missed, and he tried desperately to remember. Nothing came.

Before he could torture himself further, Ally woke up, and the conversation switched to his search for her exes. His breaking of her coffee pot, and her new social media account. Jasmine's missed call was quickly pushed to the back of his mind, and then forgotten.

JASMINE NYU DAYS EARLIER

Jasmine had given Colin a week to cool off after the disappointment of being unable to come home. She called him close to noon, knowing that he'd be awake and it would also give her ample time to devote to him given it was her lunch break. As his phone rang, she felt her heart pound with worry. She hoped he had had enough time to come to terms with his anger, and that he knew that she'd had to go along with the program, no matter how much she wished she didn't.

When the answer came, it wasn't the voice she would know anywhere, instead it was a husky female voice. "Hello?"

Jas, was confused at first, then thinking that perhaps someone picked up by mistake, she asked for Colin. "Yes, hello, is Colin Shea there?" She said, as pleasantly, if not completely certainly.

"I'm sorry, no he's not." The voice said, searching it seemed for the appropriate excuse. "We're heading out for lunch and then we're off to a movie. I guess he hasn't had a chance to let the other girls know about us. Yet." The voice said, Jasmine felt the smugness in her bones. "You may want to ditch this number, honey. He's off the market now."

"Alright, then. Well, goodbye." Jasmine said, feeling her heart constrict. She touched the disconnect button and felt her vision blur. Knowing that it could happen hadn't actually prepared her for it happening.

She sat down on her desk chair, hard. Making sure that she could feel, anything, at this point feeling was important. She looked down at her hand. On it was the promise ring that Colin had given her on her 18th birthday. It was a Claddagh ring with a sapphire stone for her birthstone, and it felt heavy upon her hand now. Should she take it off? She hadn't removed it, not once since he'd place it there, but now did it matter?

Her world was spinning and for a moment she forgot that it was her fault this was happening. Then it came rushing back. This was her fault. No one else was to blame. She made this happen. It was her idea. She told Colin to play the field. She told him not to wait for her. And that made her laugh, she laughed so hard that when the tears started she couldn't stop, not for hours.