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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Taking grief for doing no wrong

Washington Post

Hi, Carolyn: I started liking this guy during my freshman year of college. We had some romantic involvement, but things were always rocky because neither of us wanted to date, due to the fact that we both fulfilled that stereotype of college kids, constantly partying, hooking up with random people, etc.

During this period, I slept with someone in his frat – he went to my high school and I’d had a crush on him since I was a freshman in high school.

Later in the year, the first boy and I began to date. We’ve been dating for about three months now, but there’s one huge problem: After a week of dating, he found out about his frat brother. He’s been upset ever since and tells me he still loses sleep over it. We’ve talked about it countless times, and he tells me that if he can’t get over it we will have to break up. I like this guy so much, and I desperately want to get past this. What can I do? – Clueless in College

Put this union out of its misery, and break up with him. As follows (thematically, not verbatim, of course): “We both came to each other through other people. I am not just grudgingly OK with that – I’m glad you turned out the way you did and accept how you got there. I hope someday you can do the same for me, but until you can, I can’t date you. I’m sorry.”

We can debate whether it matters that you used to crush on the frat brother; that the frat brother possibly (undoubtedly?) said some choice things about you; that there are double standards involved. We can even feel for your boyfriend for his unwelcome knowledge/imagery. But unless you left something out, you’re paying dearly for not doing anything wrong.

You’ve talked “countless times,” but the second conversation, maybe third, was the perfect time to remind him there’s nothing more to be said. How many months are you ready to burn, trying to undo what can’t be undone?