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to the mailbox numerous times a day, hoping to hear from him, and then the exultation of opening a package and sliding the cassette into the stereo. Accustomed as most of us are now to anytime, anywhere communication, it’s not often that we have the opportunity to experience that bittersweet, agonizing anticipation. Even back then, Adam was so emotionally expressive, so clearheaded in his feelings. I would listen to his tapes hundreds of times, until I had every word, every breath memorized.
    I was prepared to do anything to be with Adam, even wait. But for him, it was too hard. As he explains, “I was crazy about you, the feelings were overwhelming, unlike anything I had ever experienced. But at nineteen, I couldn’t bear the pain of being separated from you, of having those yearnings continually unfulfilled. I dealt with my emotions by burying them, until I couldleave you behind. I buried a huge part of myself in the process.” After a few months, we parted very painfully.
    My heart was broken. A part of me harboured the hope that Adam would find his way back to me. Meanwhile, I dated my guts out, looking for someone to fill the void he’d left behind. But no one that I met could measure up to my memory of him. After two full years of anguished pining, I finally moved on and committed to a life without him.
    Of course, being the master of timing that he is, it is precisely around that time that Adam came to his senses, pulled himself together, and decided that he had made a terrible mistake—that we belonged together. He began calling and writing, trying to woo me back. But for me, having worked so hard to get over him, it was too late. My heart was closed to him.
    And thus, it was Adam’s turn to hope and pine. For months, he waited every day for the phone to ring. And then, finally, he went on with his life as well.

TOP TEN
    STM Pick-up Lines
10 “Kiss me. Tastes good, doesn’t it. Why don’t you go back and have a second helping? Be greedy.”
9 “Keep close to me. My love is infectious, and there’s no cure.”
8 “Of course I know where your eyes are. I just like staring at your tits.”
7 “Let’s swap saliva. I know, love is messy.”
6 “You’re in the crosshairs of my love. And my aim is true. Bitch.”
5 “Well, don’t YOU look like the icing on a fuck cake.”
4 “Nothing’s invisible to my love radar. I’m picking you up loud and clear.”
3 “Your three steps to happiness: Sex, Food, Me.”
2 “Sure you can have my phone number. It’s like having a direct line to God. But better. Because I answer.”
1 “Rub my tummy, bitch.”
    2007, New York City. Twelve years had passed since we had last spoken, fifteen since we had seen each other. I had long ago moved on with my life, and had a number of serious relationships, none of which were quite right. I had thought of Adam occasionally, but only as a distant element of my past. And then, one day—on a momentary whim—I did what millions of ex-girlfriends have done the world over: plugged his name into Facebook. And there he was! Swiftly, without too much thought or analysis, I dropped him a friendly e-mail.
    Adam’s response was immediate and enthusiastic, and we charged into catch-up mode. He had gotten married (Oh.); he had gotten divorced (Oh?); he had two children (Ohhh. Well …). We graduated swiftly from e-mail to IM, to phone, to Skype. We spent hours each night talking on video, without any acknowledgment that anything romantic was going on. The official unspoken line: “Oh, this is normal, we are just old friends who happen to spend FOUR HOURS every night Skyping. Nope, nothing to see here.” What a feat of mutual denial it took to pull THAT off.
    One day, I suggested that we needed to get together for cup of coffee. Just so we could, y’know, settle the past and put it behind us. He agreed. So he did what any sane, totally-just-friends person would do under the circumstances: purchased a plane ticket, London to New York.