The following week, I met my old roommate for lunch. We spent most of the time talking about his wedding planning and how he was adjusting to life living with his girlfriend. But inevitably he asked how I was doing with Cassie. I related to him what had happened the previous weekend.

I knew something was wrong when he looked down at his plate, poked at his food with his fork, and then slowly looked back up at me. "Listen," he began, "I really wanted to warn you, but Kate told me it was impolite gossip and you didn't need to know."