**I.**
Lately, it seemed like nothing was as easy as it should be.
But Eric still tried, as best as he could.
When his roommate picked up and moved out over the span of a weekend after unceremoniously getting kicked out of university for cheating, Eric figured that was just part of living in student housing off campus and decided to make the best of it.
He’d spent a long Friday night picking up after his errant, messy roommate, and putting the place to rights. It wasn’t easy, and Eric had never been especially athletically inclined, so more often than not he’d found himself having to sit on the floor and catch his breath.
He’d figured it was worth it, though–for Sadie. They’d been dating five years and things hadn’t been right for the past few months. Eric tried as hard as he could, but Sadie said he never took initiative, she never wanted to kiss him in public or even hold his hand, and their intimate life had been… Well, kind of lackluster. When it existed at all.