Dear SS,

Don't you mean is there any way you can be friends-with-benefits with this guy? Because with the amount of sexual tension between you two currently, there's no way a platonic friendship is in the cards. 

Absence isn't the only thing that makes the heart (and loins) grow fonder: adversity does too. And what's more adverse to love than being broken up? You know, it's that whole wanting-what-you-can't-(or-shouldn't)-have phenomenon. It's the reason why the spark fades in many long-term relationships where the sex is a given--there's no chase or challenge. So no wonder you two were chomping at the bit: you're broken up, he's seeing someone else, you're so close and yet so far apart...

You should have only "just done it" if you don't have any expectations about or hopes for a future relationship. 1) Could you be satisfied with just an occasional booty call? 2) Do you believe the woman he's seeing knows she's not in an exclusive relationship? 3) Could you see them in the hallway together and not be thrown into a jealous rage? 

If you answered yes to all three questions then you have our permission to just do it (with a condom of course). After all, 1) it sounds like you don't think of him as boyfriend material and could be happy with a purely sexual relationship. 2) We know the onus is on the person in the relationship to be honest about matters of exclusivity, but if you think he's playing this other woman then don't help him. And 3) remember that just doing it may stir up feelings you didn't expect prior to or during the  heat of the moment: new longing or simple regret--after all, sometimes the tension is better than the release. (We can hear the chorus of dudes now: "Um, the release is always better.")

So if you answered no to any of the above questions then you should just continue avoiding each other until the lease is up. Put in some earbuds and turn your Hitachi Magic Wand to "high" to drown out the sound of him walking around upstairs. 

Just doing it,

Em & Lo