“Hey, Chad,” Alexander yelled the next morning, the moment he saw his friend. “Did Jose tell you that he and Josefina broke up yesterday?”
“Yeah,” Chad replied shortly before the two of them began down one of the Miami International University campus walkways on their way to the first-thing-in-the-morning English class they shared on Tuesdays and Thursdays. “He briefly mentioned it.”
“Oh, only briefly? I thought he would say more than that. Did he tell you that when he stopped by last night to try to convince her to forgive him and give him a second chance; she gave him the 'What for'?”
“The 'What For'?” Chad turned and stared at him. “I don't understand. What do you mean – the 'What For'? I've never heard that expression before.”
“It's an American slang meaning to tell someone off,” Alex replied. “In this case, when Jose came by last night, Josefina told him exactly what she thought about him and his cheating on her – then she slammed the door on him.”
Chad nodded. “Really? Wow. That would definitely explain a few things.”
“Oh? What things?”
“Well, to begin,” Chad continued. “Jose was so down when he came home last night that after mumbling a couple of things regarding how Josefina wouldn't even listen to him, he went directly to his bedroom. The only time I saw him afterward was when he came out to use the bathroom. He didn't even stop whatever he was doing last night to snack on anything like he normally does when he's home.”
“Really? The kid didn't even eat supper?” Alex asked, raising an eyebrow. “I'm surprised. Jose had told me earlier yesterday if he was able to successfully work out things between him and my sister, he was going to take her out to eat.”
Chad chuckled. “Well, that obviously didn't happen. But no, Jose didn't eat anything after he came home. In fact, I think the only thing he did do last night was to lay on his bed and listen to some old lost-my-lover Latino music.”
“Wow. He really must have been down,” Alex replied as they stepped into the building where the English and Math classes were held. “But I can assure you, Jose wasn't the only one upset last night?”
“Josefina too?” Chad's brown pupils widened. “Why should your sister be upset? She's the one who decided to end everything.”
“I know,” Alex said as they stopped a few feet away from their classroom's door. “But you know women. Sometimes they do things and they're both happy and unhappy about what they've done.”
Chad looked confused. “If you say so, I wouldn't really know. Being gay, I've never dealt with a situation like that.”
Alex nodded. “Me neither. But that's what I heard from my friends who are straight.”
Chad smiled. “Well … At least I don't have to worry about dealing with something like that when I'm with my brother. When he's upset, it shows. Like last night, when I asked Jose when he first came home what was bugging him, he told me Josefina had dumped him. And not just for now ... but permanently.”
“Josefina permanently dumped him?” Alex appeared surprised. “Wow. My sister didn't say anything about doing that. … I thought it was only going to be temporary. Are you sure she told him the breakup was permanent?”
“Definitely,” Chad answered. “According to Jose, Josefina made it absolutely clear she was dumping him for good. ... Josefina not only said goodbye, but told him it was forever.”
“Man. That's rough,” Alexander said, turning serious.
“Yeah, it was,” Chad agreed before taking a deep breath. “Do you think the two of them will ever get back together again? It'd be a shame for their relationship to be permanently over considering how long they were a couple.”
Alexander shrugged. “I really don't know. But, if I had to guess, I would say the odds of them getting back together are about as good as the odds of us ever being a couple again.”
Chad frowned. “Whoa. Wait a minute. What's this new info? What do you mean? We're not a couple?”
Alexander shook his head. “No, and we haven't been for quite a few years now. If you recall, all romance between us pretty much died soon after you and Jose left Denmark.”
“True,” Chad agreed. “But I thought we had started anew soon after we arrived on campus a few weeks ago.”
Alexander chuckled. “A renewal of our close friendship did occur – but there hasn’t been anything regarding us being a couple again. Haven't you noticed? Nothing even close to being romantic has been going on between us ever since we arrived in Miami.”
Chad raised his hand to his chin and worked at recalling the past few weeks.
“Technically. You're right – now that I thought about it,” he eventually replied. “But I figured time would take care of that. After all, we’ve been physically apart a number of years.”
“Yes, we have,” Alexander said with a nod. “And let's not forget that Felipe thing I found you involved in. It really caught me by surprise. I mean ... well ... Jose did tell me while you two were in Chile how you and Felipe had a thing going on. But from what I was told, everything regarding that relationship ended before you came to Miami. So, even before my sister and I arrived on campus for the freshman semester this year, I had planned for us to re-kindle things just as soon as we got together. But, instead of that happening, I discovered you were still dealing with Felipe – here in Miami.”
Chad instantly looked toward the ceiling.
“You two were STILL in a relationship, weren't you?” Alexander asked.
“No. Not really – at least not a romantic one like what we had in Chile,” Chad said, hesitating. “That ended several weeks ago. This one was more or less like the type adults have after they get a divorce.”
Alexander shifted the books he was carrying. “So? It doesn't matter. The bottom line is – you two were still in a relationship. So why should I have presumed there was a chance of us becoming a couple again?”
Chad paused. “Well ... I.”
“Please don't get me wrong, Chad. You're a really cool kid,” Alexander said. “But the way things worked out. We're friends – only friends. You understand where I'm coming from?”
Chad looked at Alexander and his head lowered.
“Yeah. I guess so,” Chad said. “If that's what you want. ... I don't know. I was hoping it could be more. You know, with us both being on campus and with Felipe now being out of the picture, I thought we could ...”
“Get back together as a couple,” Alexander said, finishing his friend's sentence just before entering their class's doorway. “It might happen, someday. Then again, we both might find someone else. We can still be friends though. Can't we? And in the meantime, let's plan on having lunch together. Okay?”
Chad smiled and looked into Alexander's face to see if he could find a glimmer of hope.
“Great,” Alexander replied. “And if you don't mind, we'll be joining Mark. He's a guy I recently met while in the library getting some material for a research paper. He's also a freshman and the two of us have really hit it off.”