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"I just don't know what to do anymore, Ben," the white tiger sighed, tapping a claw against the table restlessly.

Ben fiddled with his nearly-empty glass. "I'm not sure what I can do to help ya, Sam." His feline friend across the booth from him had been going out with his girlfriend for about three years now, but things were taking a sudden turn for the worse. She had been acting strangely lately, and Sam didn't know why. The poor guy was pretty freaked out, to tell the truth. It had taken him a full beer to stop his tail from twitching nervously, and another to get his lips to loosen up about what was going on. Now with the tiger working on his third and Ben's wallet running thin, the black otter was hoping to get some results.

"It's almost like she's toying with me. Like something she can play with and then set on a shelf to forget about for a while, y'know? Out of sight, out of mind. Except she's choosing not to see me."

"But you two have been doing so great all along!" Ben said. "If she's been ignoring your text messages lately, I'm sure she's just busy. Things come up in life that are unavoidable."

"Not like this," the tiger lamented, shaking his head. "Last time I saw her in person, I asked her about her lack of responsiveness and she said yes she's had her phone on her, and yes it's been charged, and yes she's been getting my messages. Worst part is, she told me she's even reading them. Yet she chooses not to respond. Because she didn't feel like being social. She didn't feel like it. What kind of bullshit is that? I'm her boyfriend. She's supposed to communicate with me."

"How much to you text her, exactly? Are you flooding her inbox with texts?"

"Not really... I usually send her at least a little message every one to three hours to say hi and check up on how she's doing, plus a goodnight message. She usually responds to some or all of those. But at times like this, when we have a date planned and she just doesn't reply to my texts, maybe once an hour?"

"Maybe slightly on the text-heavy side, but not so much as to seem overly attached, so that's good," Ben said, rubbing his chin with a webbed paw. "Makes sense that you'd text her more if you have something already planned for around that time. So for example, when you say something like 'Hey I'm ready to go, how about you?', then...?"

"Nothing. For hours. Yesterday I waited six hours at the restaurant for her to never show up. Six hours. I'm not joking. Do you know how much I could have done with that time instead of waiting around like an idiot? If she had something going on she could have texted me and I would have had my whole night to fill out more applications or play games or sleep or... or something."

"That has to be frustrating."

"You have no idea." He took a big swig and put his glass back down with a thud. "It's like... she's not even acknowledging me as a person. As her boyfriend."

It saddened Ben to see how bad things seemed to be for them. Sam and his girlfriend, an African Painted Dog by the name of Erica, had met their sophomore year of college in a chemistry class. Ben had been his roommate at the time, and he remembered quite well how hopelessly in love with her the tiger was. He always had that far-off look in his eyes whenever he got back from walking her to her dorm, had that goofy smile, had his tail swishing a little circle in the air. On New Year's Eve of that year the tiger asked her if she would like to go out with him, to which she happily agreed. It seemed that nothing could pull them apart. They had occasional arguments and misunderstandings once in a while, sure, but they never let it bother them for long. And for three years everything was well.

But now cracks were starting to form at the foundation of their fortress of love. Erica dropped out of college last year to take an opening at a local clothing design studio. It was what she had always dreamed of, and Sam was quite happy for her. But with Sam still at school trying to finish his chemistry degree, they didn't get to see each other nearly as often as they used to. They still tried to get together whenever possible, but not seeing each other on the way to class every day was a big blow to Sam. Ben tried to cheer his friend up and hang out as much as possible to get his mind off things, but there was only so much the otter could do. Sam hated his classes, hated the teachers, hated most of the people. He was probably just frustrated things couldn't be as they once were. The spark of his life now lived an hours' drive away, which wouldn't be that bad if he had a car. Now he had (sometimes severe) mood swings and falling grades. Times were tough.

Summer in all its glory arrived just when things were darkest. The two lovers were finally able to see each other again. But things were different, according to Sam. She seemed more aloof. Uncaring. Not to say she didn't love Sam, far from it. But she didn't seem to think about the consequences of her actions, nor how the tiger felt about her decisions. It was really tearing up the poor guy inside.

"You two need anything?" The bartender, Favian, was making his rounds to the tables. Ben had only been to The Tricolor Beguile a handful of times, but he always liked the orange-red fox behind the bar. Very charismatic and personal, he always seemed to know exactly what to say to make you feel better.

"I'll have a glass of water," the otter said, not wanting to spend any more money. Unlike his tiger friend, he was still looking for a job.

"Sure! And for you, Sam?" Ben knew that Favian tried to know each customer by name, but he had to wonder how often Sam had been coming in lately.

Sam shook his head no. He still had about half his beer to go.

"Alrighty then. Holler for me if you need anything!" The orange-red fox left with a swish of his bushy tail, off to serve and chat. It struck Ben as odd how little Favian said to the two of them. Usually he'd talk your arm off. Maybe the fox had seen how seriously they were talking and thought it best to leave them to their conversation. But Ben had no doubt Favian was still listening in from time to time.

"So you were saying...?"

"Oh, right." Sam took another swig from his glass before continuing: "It's just weird how things seemed better when Erica and I were further apart, y'know? Like all of the sudden, now that we can see each other again and be in each other's arms, it's suddenly worse? It's not natural."

Ben frowned. "Maybe because when you were apart you knew what to expect? Like no physical intimacy, for example. And not being able to go out on dates. But now that you can, things go back to being unpredictable?"

"I suppose," the tiger said. "I just don't like unpredictable. I need things nice and calm. Nothing out of the ordinary. Peaceful. And right now it's none of those. We're still hardly seeing each other, physical intimacy is sporadic, and I frankly don't know where we are in our relationship."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean sometimes it feels like we've been together for a long time and can be intimate and all, but at others it's so chaotic it's like we're just starting out. Like she's not completely open with me, nor me with her." Sam sighed. "Sometimes I wonder if she's seeing someone else. Sometimes... sometimes I wonder if I should be doing the same."

Ben's eyes widened. To hear him talking like that after three years was frankly shocking. He really thought the two of them had something going. How could it have gotten this bad?

"Sounds to me like you two have some communication problems."

Ben was confused. He had been thinking similar thoughts, but he hadn't opened his mouth. It took him a second to realize Favian had returned to the table with the glass of water he requested. Just as the otter suspected. The bubbly fox had been eavesdropping.

"What do you mean?" Sam said defensively.

"Well, has she been clear about what she wants out of your relationship?"

The tiger snorted. "No."

"Have you?" the fox pressed.

Sam paused for a moment. He hadn't thought about it that way before. "No."

"So tell me, what do you want?"

"I want..." Sam buried his head in his paws. "I dunno. Intimacy, understanding, peace? Being able to talk to each other and not be interrupted by her not texting back? Being able to predict when she will suddenly not be available? Stability?"

"Alright," Favian said. "Now what does she want?"

The tiger scrunched his nose. "Hell, I dunno."

"Then you need to figure that out. Sit down with her in person and talk with her. Explain to her clearly what you want and need from your relationship, and ask her to tell you the same. Outline the good and the bad, what needs to change and what needs to stay. Without clear communication like that, neither of you will know how the other really feels. You can't read each other's minds, can you?"

"S'pose not," Sam said with a rueful smile.

The fox gave him a wink. "Communication is key in any relationship. I wouldn't be married to my wife for as long as I have if we didn't communicate our feelings clearly to each other. Give it a little time, and the next time you come in here I'm sure you'll be the happier for it!" He set down the glass of water in front of Ben and walked off, weaving his way through tables to return to his post behind the bar.

Sam shook his head. "He's got a point, but... I still don't know."

"C'mon man," Ben pleaded. He thought Sam was making progress. "Why not? Don't you still love her?"

"I don't know!" The door to the Tricolor Beguile opened, and a nervous-looking gray wolf stepped inside. Sam leaned in closer and lowered his voice. "I... I don't know. I'd love her a lot more if I knew she loved me back."

The otter didn't know what else to say. He gazed around the establishment while he tried to think of something that would make his friend feel better. Favian was giving a wave to the newcomer, who came and sat down at the bar. On the other side of the room, the catchy music had attracted a lioness and a wolf to the small dance floor, who seemed to be enjoying themselves. Other than a hyena at the bar and a few other people eating or drinking, that was about all he could see from his view in the booth.

"I don't even know if continuing the relationship would work out geographically," the tiger continued.

"Geographically?"

"Yeah. She wants to stay here and work for this design studio. That's great and all, but there's no chemistry-related jobs for 50 miles. So if we continue on, we'd have to be separated again. I don't want that. I wanted to maybe get an apartment with her or something, settle down. But we can't both be pursuing our careers and still maintain a relationship with each other."

The otter rubbed his chin. "Maybe you could find some other job here? You're a good worker; I'm sure someone would hire you."

Sam shook his head. "I can't do that. You know how much student loans I've got? I've gotta get a high-paying job to be able to stay afloat here. Burger-flipping or bar-tending just isn't going to cut it. The only jobs that would give me enough money to pay off my loans are the chemistry-type jobs I've been studying for for years. I've gotta have one."

Not only did they have communication issues, but their dreams careers and finances were pulling them in different directions. Something had to change, that much was certain. They couldn't carry on like they had been. "Maybe... Maybe you two need to take a step back in your relationship?" Ben suggested. "Find some kind of safe zone while you work things out?"

"If I want to work things out." The white tiger downed the last of his beer. "I don't know if I even wanna try. Maybe I should just end this now, start anew." His eyes drifted to the dancing lioness. After a moment he shook his head. "But I'm scared. Scared of starting all over again. Of having to get to know someone as well as I have Erica. I don't know if I could wait three years to get to this point in a relationship again, physically and emotionally... I need to be close to someone. I need her, but she hurts me." He looked despondent. "This freaking sucks, man."

The otter sighed and drew lines in the condensation on his glass with a black paw. "Whether or not you start over is your choice. But at your former roommate--as your friend, I'd suggest you at least try to work things out. You never know until you try."

"What are you, my mother?"

Ben chuckled. "Just a suggestion. Oh, and uh, if you wouldn't mind holding off another beer, my wallet would appreciate it," he said, just stopping Sam from waving down the bartender.

"Ah. Sorry," he said sheepishly. "Damn, how many have I had?"

"That was your third, man."

"Yeah, I'm starting to feel that way..."

"You ready to go back?" the otter asked, taking one last sip of his water before setting it aside. "I'll drive."

"Yeah, that would be good. Maybe I'll call Erica in the morning."

They both shimmied out of the booth, and Ben left what little change he had left as tip for Favian. "So, what are you gonna tell her?" he questioned as they neared the door.

Sam paused for a second. "...Everything." The two friends stepped out of the smoky bar and into the night.