As January draws to a close, any unfavorable or unresolved romantic entanglements tend to get worse as the season of red, pink, and white blankets every corner. The love month makes you question if you could have done something differently. If the new year can start you off hung over, the end of the month can sometimes leave you emotionally hung over or hung up on someone.

It’s almost like a list of songs for the stages of that feeling. That fight for another chance song? Our first one. That idea that love will solve everything if you give it time to work out. That you can start over again, because the problems weren’t as bad as the love was strong. That just give me one more chance without our pride in the way kind of feeling.

Still Loving You – Scorpions

This is almost like accepting the maybe it’s not worth saving. When you gave it your all, and you were still let down. Almost made you happy, but the half measure in and out feeling brought an end to this particular love story. That hesitation in one when the other was all in. Recognizing that you’re on different pages is healthy, even if it doesn’t make the hurt change.

Almost Doesn’t Count – Brandy

It is worse to have an almost or a habit of someone? This one is most like the emotional hangover song for an old school breakup. It gives that feeling of being with someone so long that you have living together kind of habits. And when you wake up alone again? That’s a fresh reminder of what you’re dealing with before you even wake up for the day. It’s that getting used to being alone again while also not wanting to be alone.

Hard Habit To Break – Chicago

Or when that habit feels like a fever, a self war between moving on and staying in it. Like you don’t know what end is up, but that person was your anchor, the thing that made you feel centered in your own chaos. The whole world could be a mess, but you and them together? That’s the reason you held on.

Stay – Rihanna ft Mikky Ekko

The best or worst kind of lingering ache? When they became such a part of you that you still hear them in your head, as if you were still talking, and they were still there next to you. It’s an I miss you moment, but the time and history feels like they aren’t gone because a piece of them lives on in you, in the way that even being without them shapes your actions too.

I Miss You – Blink-182

A bonus one that feels VERY specific to characters in the Red Letters books? This one, because careers get in the way, and Woods is our resident rock star, getting millions to sing along to his songs… since he doesn’t think he can reach the one lady he’s trying to communicate most with. The ghost of her? Drives him to literal hangovers too, not just his memories.

If It Means A Lot To You – A Day To Remember