Winter dredges up an overwhelming need to lay up in the crib with a special someone and snack on diced pineapples in bed. It wasn't long before cynics gave this period of pseudo-hibernation an actual name: Cuffing Season (yes, there is an official definition for it here). Drake's track 'Come Winter' gives a decent explanation of what this time of year is all about. While the phrase is cloaked in skepticism, the fact remains that it feels good to be in love -- or something like it -- during the holidays and when the cold weather hits. Cuffing Season is a whirlwind for the men and women involved. They fall in love, succumb to emotional outbursts and then fall out of love in time for seersucker suits and sundresses in the spring and embrace the single life. Here, TheDrop.fm details this timeline through song, highlighting every phase -- and all its ups and downs -- of the standard Cuffing Season relationship.

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    'Butterflies'

    You've decided to head out on the town for the evening and there’s this cutie that you’ve been eyeing. Somehow, the two of you have been running into each other everywhere but tonight seems different. The weather is perfect, the moon is big and bright and as you break from your respective groups, you start talking about any and everything. Something flutters in your stomach and you start feeling those butterflies Michael Jackson was talking about.

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    'Breathless'

    'Corinne Bailey Rae'

    Over the next couple of weeks, you and your potential beau grow closer. You find yourself excited by a phone call or a subliminal tweet on Twitter, just because. Is it love or infatuation? Does it matter at this point? You decide that it doesn’t and allow things to play out accordingly. But all logic goes out of the window and you lose your breath a little -- to the tune of Corinne Bailey Rae -- when a certain name pops up in your call log.

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    'Let's Chill'

    'The Future'

    After a few quiet lunches and hour-long phone calls at night, things are getting even deeper. After reviewing the options, you’ve both decided to devote some time to see how things could work as a couple -- Guy's 'Let's Chill' is the perfect soundtrack for the moment. It’s getting colder outside and you find yourselves wanting to cuddle up more often than not. The question of exclusivity is brought up and you decide that would be best -- at least until it’s not.

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    'I Think I Love You'

    'Some Kinda...'

    Things are moving pretty fast now. After only a few weeks, you’re spooked at all of the things you and the new prospect have in common. You start acting like high schoolers in love for the first time. There's walking city streets in the middle of the night and stealing kisses and hugs from each other. Soon after, one of you grapples with the idea of saying the “three words” before the other. Maybe Dwele can say it better?

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    'I Don't Care'

    'Perfectly Imperfect'

    The two of you can’t be together every minute of the day -- you have to break for your friends and family, of course. They've also been wondering whatever happened to that cutie you linked with a couple weeks back. You’re hesitant to tell the homies that you’ve been spending all that time with “the new one.” You’re embarrassed to admit that you could be in too deep, too soon like Elle Varner coos on 'I Don't Care': "Clearly I'm gone, I'm going into the deep end / Far over my head."

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    'P.D.A. (We Just Don't Care)'

    'Once Again'

    As time goes on and passion increases, you’re finding it more and more difficult not to be affectionate in public. While waiting for tacos, you lean into each other. While out with friends, they lament that you guys are too amorous and you need to “get a room and get on with it.” You and your boo chuckle as if the idea hadn’t already been thought of. 'P.D.A.,' soulfully sung by John Legend, is the soundtrack for the evening.

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    'Good Love'

    'Pineapple Now Laters'

    There are late nights and early mornings with the two of you -- some include being drunk and fun while others are sober and more memorable. You’re still getting used to each other but there haven’t been any awful moments yet. BJ the Chicago Kid's 'Good Love' sets the tone. There are intimate moments at the crib and slow dances to no music in the streets -- movie-worthy moments that leave you smiling and wondering how often you’ll have times like these together.

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    'Do You Feel Me?'

    'American Gangster Soundtrack'

    Within a few months of knowing each other, the initial high is dissipating and at least one of you is wondering what the other is thinking -- Do we continue down this rocky road? Somehow it seems like your moving away from Jay-Z and Beyonce status; the heart isn’t into it as much as before. Even though it all felt genuine, a part of you is ready to dip out if need be, but you want to hear answers. You want to hear something. Was this ever real? 'Do You Feel Me?' Mr. Hamilton, you sure know how to say what's on the minds of many.

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    'We're Not Making Love No More'

    'Soul Food Soundtrack'

    The “relationship” between the two of you has become something different almost instantly and neither of you can deny it. Everything has changed -- Dru Hill's 'We're Not Making Love No More' for starters -- and for whatever reason the passion is missing. The phone calls and spontaneous dates have dissipated. It doesn’t even seem like you ever did those things together. The beginning of the relationship seems like eons ago and you’re ready to just chuck the deuces and cut your losses.

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    'You Used to Love Me'

    'Faith'

    By now, this entire relationship is a wrap and you’ve developed a sort of cold indifference towards it. But sometimes, you let yourself remember and admit to yourself that it -- whatever "it" was -- was nice for that time but now that the cold weather’s breaking, that Cuffing Season relationship seems like even more of a distant memory. Faith Evans' 'You Used to Love Me' is in rotation but there's no time to dwell on things. Spring flings are up next!

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