"Get her some flowers." 

Not quite an order. But not a suggestion.

"Go directly to an all-night supermarket. Get some cheap bouquet 
from their florist's freezer case, and whatever you do, don't get
one that's wilted."

Do not pass Go. Do not collect 200 dollars.

"I mean it, Bud. If you don't do this, you're going to be sorry."

Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday, and for the
rest of your life.

"Ma'am...I appreciate what you're trying to do here, but you
look really...hagged. Go home."

"Hagged?" Her earnest look broke up. "Where did you get that
expression?"

"From my sister."

"Reads a lot of Regency romances, right?"

"Yeah...hey, how did you know?" He could feel an incredulous
grin crawling over his face. "You read romance novels?"

"Marines only read 'em for the war references. And advice
to give their law clerks." She grinned back and scooted out 
of his Bug. "Thanks for the ride, Bud. See you on Monday.
With Harriet," she added pointedly.

He waited to make sure her car started all right. It seemed
like the right thing to do. And then he was turning toward
home with that sleep deprivation feeling he knew so well,
thanks to law school. Two more weeks till finals, and three
days without Harriet. 

Harriet deprivation sucked.

When he thought about having a girlfriend, he hadn't thought
about the not-having part that could come after it. After
all, he knew all about not having a girlfriend, right? That
was normal. Sucky, sure, but normal.

But he and Harriet had been together for...gosh, almost a
year now. He'd gotten used to having her around, to getting
that little rush of warmth in his heart when he saw her
face or heard her voice. He'd gotten used to being someone
special for her. 

Somehow, he'd forgotten how to be Bud-before-Harriet. He kept
wanting to talk to her about stuff, or turn around and see 
her there. It was like he was a Vulcan and part of his mind 
had gotten permanently melded to hers, so that when she
was mad at him he felt a little brain-dead.