Need advice on the twists and turns that young love can make? Then read this column for a straight solution.

We’ve all seen “Grease” and desired to have that perfect summer romance that blossoms into a relationship and eventually a marriage and a cozy house in the suburbs with two children and a labradoodle.

But the fact remains that by the end of the movie, Danny was a poser and Sandy had to convert into a leather-clad whore just to keep the relationship going. It seems as if Rizzo was the only realist, but this was a woman who wore hickeys around her neck like badges.

The days of soda fountains and sock hops are over and so are the warm (OK, miserably hot) New Orleans summer nights. The heat, humidity and endless amounts of free time that contributed to your two or three months of passion are moving away faster than greased lightning. Un-sexy chilly winds, 15 hours of classes and drunken hookups after a night at Friar Tuck’s may not be the one that you want, but are inevitable.

So, the question is, how do you continue that summer romance now that the climate is changing, and you’ve left for college?

You can’t honestly. I may not be Sandra Dee, but look at me and listen: please beauty school drop out of that relationship.

OK, I don’t know anything about your relationship. I’m sure that you met in the most adorable way possible and that the past few months have been the happiest of your brief life, but this isn’t the 1950s. It takes much more than puppy love and making-out in your father’s Chevy at a drive-in to make a relationship work. It takes time, effort and most importantly personal interaction.

It’s not just the seasons that are changing. You are as well and not in that awkward junior high sex education sort of way. By the time you return home for Thanksgiving, the two of you will probably have grown unrecognizable to one another, not to mention unattractive.It’s fall. Cool off, and, hey, if you do eventually reconnect and have that perfect relationship, have an open bar at the wedding, and make sure to put me on the guest list, but I will not baby-sit your children.

For questions, comments, or queries about love and life, Justin Templet can be reached at [email protected].