(Story begins here.)
Eventually though Eric's reticence gave way once more.
``It took me nearly a month after I graduated to finally confess to Julia about my feelings. She expressed shock at first, but that quickly turned to pity as she kept saying `you should've said so earlier and perhaps it might be different'. We kept in touch from that point on, using the chat programs to transmit text messages across the Pacific.
``At first, we were very enthusiastic, chatting with each other at all hours of the day. Slowly things started to change. The messages started to cool off in frequency, the contents started to be more generic. She soon started on a new fan fiction project thing, and that became the second time sapper, the first being her graduate studies of course.
``All through this I tried my best to keep in contact with her. But slowly tihngs seemed to be falling apart. She was starting to talk about the opinions of a new guy, and when I read about that my heart sank. I kept imagining her going out with him, especially when she said that they would check out the concerts that were nearby and what-not. When I couldn't stand it any more and asked her about him, she said he was a friend, and that he already had a girlfriend.
``What went through my mind was that perhaps she was his girlfriend.''
``Now hold on right there,'' Joe interjected. ``I think you are over thinking things. Why would you think that she was lying given those particularly chosen words? Are you being a little jealous of someone that you obviously don't know a lot of?''
Eric fell silent once more, the weight of Joe's words hanging on him severely. Joe had a very good point, something that the alcohol didn't manage to warp with its reality-distortion powers. He thought of the things he knew and remembered about Julia, and found them to be superficial things, the kind of things that one hears from another who was showing the world one's public face. That sudden realisation made Eric feel a sudden bout of inexplicable sadness coursing through him.
``Uh-oh Joe, I think you broke him,'' Roger said when he saw Eric suddenly quietening down with his eyes staring nearly dead ahead, still against the stimuli around him.
``Hush Roger. Kid needs to process what I just said.'' Turning to Eric, Joe continued. ``Kid, I know your thought process now. Don't take it too hard. You might have a missed connection, but at least she didn't say an outright no. Talk to her more, kid, figure out more commanlities. And more importantly, cut loose if the ship is sinking, and don't hesitate.
``Now if you'd excuse me, I hear a rowdy crowd coming in that I need to tame.''
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