I start my day with one to tamp down the unbridled need festering inside of me, and it works for a while. I’m cool enough to ignore her coconut scent floating around every corner of every room in the house and the gentle hum of her tone-deaf singing I hear coming from her shower every morning. But then we get to my office and I have the freedom to touch the smooth surface of her skin and my resolve is tested all over again.

Being a man of my word has never been such a challenge. I promised her that I wouldn’t cross her boundaries again. That our mouths wouldn’t touch until it was her who united them. I promised myself that I would give her the space to reconcile in her heart what both of our bodies so desperately want. But every day I go without sinking inside her makes me want to break that promise and shatter it beneath the weight of our bodies.

Still, I knew I was playing the long game here, and I’ll play it for as long as it takes. I didn’t fight for her when she left the first time. I accepted that she didn’t want me anymore, that I was in the way of her dreams. I was complacent. That won’t happen again.

The bright side in all of this is that while she hasn’t come around to me romantically, she’s more than come around to me in a platonic sense. We’ve gone from her awkwardly shuffling around me to being willing to spend hours in my company. On Friday nights, we cook dinner and watch movies together. Arguing with her over which movie to watch has become the highlight of my week.

A small grunt of pain escapes Olivia’s lips, bringing me back into the present. I take a moment to observe her form and know immediately what’s wrong.

“You’re overcompensating.”

She brings her injured leg up from its split-squat position until she’s standing upright. “What?”

“Your form is all off. You’re overcompensating with your unaffected leg to take the pressure off this leg.”