Every couple follows the same arc when one of them has to go away for a while. How will the two of you ever survive apart? You can kill five minutes by reading this article. After that, you’re on your own again.
-3 Hours
The two of you lie quietly cuddling in the dark. If anyone else could see you, they’d never let you live down how sad and pathetic you look. It’s like the raft scene in Titanic except instead of one of you sinking to the bottom of the ocean forever, they’re just going to Iowa for a week.
-2 Hours
You make a very serious pact to talk every day, but fate is like, “lol no.”
0: The actual goodbye
You share several actual romantic goodbyes, before one of you just awkwardly leaves mid-sentence because you realize otherwise you’ll never say goodbye.
+1 Hour
You both have a sad car/plane/train ride home, only listening to really sad songs, or maybe even just silence, staring off wistfully into the night. You’ve heard “Adore You” dozens of times, but this time you really get it.
+1 Day
Oh, you think this is going to be easy? Because you had one fun night out with your friends? YOU ARE WRONG. The loneliness is going to crush you, just give it time.
+2 Days
You decide you’re going to do something constructive with all the free time you’re spending not hanging out with your S.O. Maybe you’ll learn guitar, or knitting. You’ll exercise more and when they get back you'll be so toned! You'll spend quality time with your friends. There's no limit to your productivity.
+2.5 Days
You realize you aren’t going to do any of those things. You are, however, going to sit on the couch and eat so much pudding you have to make your roommate swear they will never tell anyone how many pudding cups are in the garbage. But hey, it's nice to do nothing sometimes. You deserve it!
+3 Days
THIS IS THE WORST. At some point, it sinks in that you’re not going to see your S.O. for days or even weeks. Don’t let your co-workers see that single tear roll down your cheek while you hit replay on Death Cab for Cutie’s “Transatlantacism” for the 357th time.
+4 Days
You start thinking about all the times they’ve pissed you off. You can’t miss someone you want to punch in the face. But no, you can't stay mad. Aw, remember how cute they are when they're mad?
+5 Days
You are dead inside. Nothing can hurt you, not even Starbucks running out of the sausage breakfast sandwiches before you get there.
+6 Days
You both finally get to talk on the phone and catch up, and it feels really great. Also, they’re coming home tomorrow, so now you have nothing to talk about when you see them. Great job.
+7 Days
You find excuses to tell everyone you know that your S.O. is coming home today. The pizza delivery guy outside your building doesn’t care what time the plane lands.
The reunion
You spend hours gazing into each other’s eyes and catching up. Just kidding. But you do bone a bunch.
Beyond
You promise to never be away from each other again, until the next time the two of you are away from each other again. You wonder if you’ll ever have time to learn the guitar or knit.
Photo Credit: Getty
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