The Shadow of Our Past

Stalemate

Ethan reaches a hand over to me, smiling with a friendly glint. My hand meets his and I return his grin with a genuine smile of my own. He pulls me into a hug abruptly and I go stiff, but when he pats my back I relax slightly. I watch Kira and Amy embrace in front of us and I smile wider.

"It's good to see you again," he bubbles, "how have you both been?"

"We're doing amazing, actually. We just started looking for apartments together." I try to calm my excitement, but a glance to Kira with the rest of the girls makes my heart thud out of control. Ethan gasps with excitement and I look back at him.

"Did she finally ask to move in with you?" I give him a questioning look and he laughs heartily.

"No, I asked her a few days ago. Why?" Ethan reaches over to pat me on the shoulder, explaining that Kira also wanted to ask about getting an apartment together. Before I can say anything, a body crashes into me and the unexpected weight nearly sends me toppling to the ground.

"Hey Ben!" Luke squeals while letting me go, then turns to Ethan. "And you must be the fabled Ethan." He wraps Ethan, who couldn't look more surprised, into a bear hug. Luke lets go of Ethan and scrambles over to Kira, Amy, Alice, Jess and Eva to introduce himself. Ethan chuckles and I explain that Luke is my brother and assure that he's harmless.

We both watch as Luke rambles about the food he brought and Jess chimes in, listing off everything she bought with excitement. Ethan and I join the group, saying hello to everyone and retreating to our respective girlfriends. I come up behind Kira and wrap my arms around her waist, resting my chin on her head. She leans into me and I'm more than content to hold her weight.

Luke and Jess scramble to gather their things, running between their cars and a large blanket set in the grass of the park. When we offer to help, Luke waves us off while Jess insists that everyone sit down on the blanket while they finish up. We do as she says, all sitting in a circle around an assortment of food.

"Hey Ben, how are you doing?" a girly voice says next to me, reserved and soft. I look over, eyes meeting Eva's. She looks nervous, thin hands playing with a loose thread on her pants.

"I've been pretty good, how about you?" I smile to hide the nervous energy building in my mind. The last time I was around Eva things didn't go so well. I can tell she's thinking the same by the tension that practically rolls off of her in waves.

"I'm alright." She hesitates for a moment before speaking again, "I'm sorry for what I said a couple of weeks ago. You're not what I thought you were."

"It's okay, I understand how you felt," I assure her and she finally smiles lightly. Jess and Luke finally sit down again, announcing the food and drinks they've brought. Kira leans onto my shoulder, tangling her hand with mine. I press a kiss to her hair, watching everyone divvy up some plates and bottles of water. Luke instructs us to eat whatever and whenever we want, then everyone's attention is on Kira and I.

Kira chuckles nervously and straightens up again. "I guess we just wanted to regroup for a moment before we take action. Plus, it's nice to have this support group of sorts and to see you all. But even though we want to move forward, we don't exactly know how. We still don't know what we want to do, or if there's even a good option," She pauses a moment to look around the circle. "But we have a few footholds. Eva, the lovely lady over there-" she gestures to the girl in question, "had a sexual assault test done that came back positive as Mike." A few people smile with a reserved pull of their lips and Eva looks nervous.

"So why are we waiting then? Why hold our breath while we have solid evidence?" Amy speaks up, leaning forward to stress her point. Alice nods alongside her, brown hair falling in front of one eye.