Awkward: When you break up but don't break the lease

The New York Times just explored one of the rites of passage of coupled-up New Yorkers: Co-habitation after a break-up. Can you ever really go from lovers to roommates?

New Yorkers Cassandra Seale and Mike Byhoff did what a lot of young couples do in the expensive city: After dating for a short while, they decided to move into a Lower East Side apartment together.

The situation was ideal for the Brooklyn-based Seale. She wanted to live in Manhattan, and living with the BF gave her the opportunity to do it on the cheap.

"Part of the reason why the relationship accelerated was that he was in the Lower East Side and it was really convenient for me to stay there, like all the time," she told the New York Times in a weekend story that's hit a nerve with young couples, both in NYC and beyond.

Spoiler alert: It doesn't end well. Byhoff came home one day and hit her with a really low blow.

"I'm no longer attracted to you," he told her.

Ouch.

Double ouch: By then, they had moved into their own place and still had a lease. Neither side could afford to live there alone, so they became roommates.

"It was definitely awkward," Byhoff told the Times. "It's just like, you're in the bed facing a different way. There is nothing else you can do."

Living together after a breakup raises all kinds of issues — like, what happens when one side starts dating again?

"I came home once from hooking up with a friend of a friend," Seale recalled, "and I remember coming home really early because I was like I don't want him to know."

In a perfect world, couples would have a heart-to-heart talk and get a clear understanding of where the relationship is going before co-signing a lease.

But in the imperfect world of romance and high rents, moving in together can seem like the only option that makes sense. Then, if breaking up is the only reasonable option down the road, living together may still be the only choice.

Did you live with your boyfriend and then break up? How did you handle it? Sound off below!

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Awkward dating situations: Dating a friend's ex

Is it ever cool to date your friend's ex? We say no, but someone might want to tell that to Riley Keough.

Well, this is awkward: Robert Pattinson has been spotted out with a new woman —?and she just so happens to be ex-girlfriend Kristen Stewart's friend.

Pattinson, 27, and actress Riley Keough have been photographed out and about in Los Angeles. Of course, this could just be an innocent friendly outing, but nothing is innocent in Hollywood — and sources confirm that RPatz is dating the Magic Mike star.

"They're inseparable," a source close to the Twilight actor told the U.K. Daily Mail. "Rob loves the fact that Riley is Elvis's granddaughter — that's true Rock'n'Roll royalty in his eyes."

OK, we LOLed at this (probably made-up) quote, but they do have a history together: Keough was Stewart's co-star in The Runaways, and they all formed a friendship.

"Riley was always Kristen's friend dating back from their time filming The Runaways, but recently Rob and Riley have been spending much more time together since meeting through their Dior modeling connection, and Riley has stayed over at Rob's Los Feliz apartment," the source continued to the Mail.

Ouch, though: Stewart and Keough are still pals — they were most recently seen together at the Twilight star's April birthday party. Shouldn't a friend's ex be off-limits?

"It's OK for friends to date other friends' exes after enough time has passed for it to not still be raw and hurtful," says Carole Lieberman, M.D., psychiatrist and author of Bad Girls: Why Men Love Them & How Good Girls Can Learn Their Secrets.

That's definitely not the case here. The pair only broke up in May — and Dr. Lieberman says it might be a way for RPatz to get back at his ex for cheating last year.

"If Robert is dating Riley, it's because she's made him feel 'safe' with her, in other words, given him to believe that she would never cheat on him," she says. "But, it is also an added plus for Rob that he knows this will get under Kristen's skin. He's still hurt and angry at Kristen for betraying and humiliating him."

These tit-for-tat games never turn out well. Just say "no" to dating your ex's friends!

Is it ever OK to date a friend's ex? Sound off below!

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