As the months go by, I begin to miss Penelope unbearably. It's a new semester now, and she has a new schedule, new classes, and no way for me to find her. Not that I've been trying. The temptation has been there, though. At the end of last semester, I at least knew where to look for her, although she did a good job of hiding from me. But this way she gets what she wanted, a clean break from me. I'm not sure where things went wrong with us. It's taken some time, but I'm beginning to understand why she left. Things were intense between us, but that's only because I could tell that it was right. That we were right. And now, without her, there's only emptiness.

It's now the beginning of March, and it's been four months since Penelope and I broke up, and three months since I last saw her. I'm starting to feel a desperate need to see her, so when some of the grad students decided to go to the last home basketball game of the season, I found myself being one of the first to respond. Now it's the night of the game and I'm finding myself in the same seat, once again sitting next to Dave, waiting for the game to start and Penelope to appear.

I feel Dave watching me as I stare at the floor, not wanting to miss the opportunity to see her.

"Aaron, is everything okay?" Dave asks.

"Yeah, I just-" I stop quickly as I see the cheerleaders take the floor. I find Penelope quickly and watch her as she takes her spot on the court, looking just as beautiful as ever. Except she seems different. Her smile is bigger and brighter than I remember it. She's happy. Happier than she was when we were together. Realizations come pouring over me at that moment. I wasn't making her this happy when we were together. She needed us to be over. She won't want to see me here.

As painful as it is to see her, I can't find it in me to leave. I'm once again mesmerized by her. Who am I kidding? I've always been mesmerized by her. The way she moves, the way she dances, the way she looks after-

"Aaron," Dave begins, pulling me from my thoughts. "What happened between you and Penelope?" I look at Dave with surprise and he chuckles slightly at my reaction. "You look equal parts devastated and exhilarated. And you're staring at her. But you haven't been to any games this semester until now. You used to go to every game last semester. And stare at her. Something happened."

"You're a very perceptive man. I didn't realize how much I had given away." He looks at me, telling me to continue. "We were seeing each other. I don't know that you can call it dating since we couldn't really see each other out of my apartment. But things were amazing and we were in love and then my ex kind of ruined everything. Well, I didn't help much, apparently."

"What do you mean?"

"When she ended things, she told me that it was in large part due to feeling like she was in over her head. That I was moving too fast and she wasn't ready for the level of commitment that I was ready for. I mean, she is young, but I just know. She's the one."

"You mean knew." I look at him quizzically as he continues. "You said you know that she's the one. But you two aren't together anymore."

"No, Dave. I still know that she's the one. I'm just waiting for her to realize it."

"Well, I don't want to make this harder for you, but I'm not sure she's going to realize it."

"I've been thinking the same thing. When she ended it, she said that if we are meant to be together, we'll find our way back to each other eventually. Except that I don't know that I believe that. I mean, what happens when she graduates and I never see her again? It'll never happen. I want it to happen. I need it to happen. But then I look at her now and she looks happier than I remember her being in a long time. Since the beginning of our relationship. That was the last time she looked this happy. I just made her miserable."

"Aaron, you can't do this to yourself. And you can't be here. It's not helping anything. It's not helping you and if she sees you, it's not going to help her. She needs time. And that's what you're going to give her. Time and space. Being here is not giving her space."

"I know, I just needed to see her. I haven't seen her since last semester. She transferred out of my class, you know."

"I heard. Word travels fast here."

"Apparently. I'm just glad no one else found out about us. I can't even imagine how quickly word would have spread about that."

"Yeah, you would have been out on your ass by the end of the hour." After a pause during which we're both contemplating Dave's words, he speaks again. "Let's get out of here. You're going to spend the whole game in misery. Let's go get drunk." I nod in consent and we stand up to leave, but then I hear Dave gasp. I look back at him and see him staring at the court. I look over and see the absolute last thing I wanted to see. The team has entered the court, and Penelope and Derek are kissing, looking like they're about two minutes away from just having sex right there on the court. He breaks off the kiss and she looks the happiest I've ever seen her staring at him as he rejoins the team on the other side of the court. I feel Dave pushing me, trying to get me to move, probably afraid that I'll make a scene, but as he tries to get me to move, Penelope's eyes find mine and her mouth gapes open as she pales. I turn away and run out of the arena as quickly as I can, refusing to look back.