It’s not always blatantly obvious when your relationship is approaching forbidden breakup territory. A potential breakup isn’t all yelling and fighting and curse words. Small things, like them not calling you beautiful as often or failing to communicate feelings properly, speak volumes louder than any screaming match could. Behavior plays a huge part in determining when something is no longer what it once was and, no matter how small the sign, something may just feel off. Nine brave college women agreed and shared their stories when they realized their relationship was going downhill.
1. Jessica
“I asked him to swing by CVS on the way home so I could run in and get some milk. After begging for him to go in with me, he refused and dropped me off. I had to walk home in the dark, by myself, with milk.”
2. Katherine
“I told him that all I wanted for my twenty-first birthday was a date. I said it could be inexpensive or even free, I just wanted him to plan a date since we had not been on one in seven months. In front of my whole family, I opened his gift and it was a $10 gift card to Cold Stone. I asked him if we were going to go there together and he said, ‘you know I don’t like ice cream.’ Two weeks later I told him in the nicest way possible how his gift hurt my feelings and he called me a brat.”
3. Carmen
“I knew it was over when he got a haircut and I realized that was the only thing he had going for him.”
4. Shelby
“We were long-distance, so I subconsciously knew it was coming but I was still really shocked and upset when it happened. When we talked on the phone, he seemed a little disconnected or less enthusiastic to be talking to me. When I asked him if anything was wrong, he’d say everything was fine! I even started to notice the sweet ‘good morning’ texts were more infrequent but, since he said all was okay, I chalked it up to him being busy with finals. The biggest clue was probably that he made little effort to visit me in the weeks leading up to our breakup, even when it was an important event I wanted him there for.”
5. Katie
“I knew my relationship was over when I flew over 1,000 miles to visit my long-distance boyfriend and all I asked for was for him to bring me a complimentary sesame seed bagel that his apartment complex provided for when I got off the flight. He picked me up 30 minutes late with a raisin bagel. I did not eat the raisin bagel.”
6. McKenzie
“I started dating my best friend my sophomore year. We dated for a while and I wasn’t really feeling it, but I didn’t know what to do. About two months into the relationship, I had a dream where I was madly in love with someone else. A couple days later, I broke up with him because of that dream! I thought it had to be my subconscious that was trying to tell me something.”
7. Stevie
“I knew my relationship was done when my boyfriend at the time was away in Washington D.C. and he only wanted to talk to me once a week! You’d think your favorite person would want to talk more often than one measly day, especially when you’re doing long-distance.”
8. Lauren
“I knew it was over when he couldn’t choose between me or his ex-girlfriend. While we were dating, he was texting his ex which didn’t particularly bother me. That was until he came to me saying that he still had feelings for her, but that he loved me and he didn’t know what to do. Obviously, I couldn’t give him any answers, so he had us both write him letters describing why he should choose us and why we loved him (which, looking back now was super f*cking stupid). He ended up choosing me, but I couldn’t trust him or look at him the same way and I broke it off soon after.”
9. Blaire
“It had been a bad day at work so, on the verge of tears, I Facetimed my boyfriend to vent. He was distracted, as he usually was at that point in our relationship, and his only response was along the lines of: ‘we can talk about this later. The guys are here to pick me up for happy hour.’ My dad told me that a person who truly cares about you will tell the boys to wait a few extra minutes, and he was right.”