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When Cindy got upset, she usually went to two people. Evie was not an option, not after their most recent discussion. So she moved on to Plan B, and sought out Danny. He was cleaning out the art room, packing up the large tubes of paint that had been strewn across the large table. Cindy didn't need to know that it had just been him and Ziggy, he would let her think that there had been campers in there.
He and Ziggy had sat there in silence, Danny drawing random doodles and Ziggy actually painting. He had been overjoyed that she had let him join her, even if she didn't speak the entire time. Before their last conversation, Ziggy had just assumed that Danny was her sister's loser boyfriend. But, there was something about him simultaneously sticking up for Cindy while not being lame about it that made her suddenly not feel so disgusted at his presence.
Cindy had messed up with Evie, she knew that. Cindy liked to think that she knew Evie better than anyone else, but seeing Evie and Julia so close at breakfast that morning had shaken her perception. The Shadyside counselors weren't the best of friends, but they all knew each other. Most of them were in the same grade or close to it. Alice and Arnie were obviously dating and there were rumours that they'd accepted Valerie into their relationship as a third (rumours that Cindy herself knew were untrue). Bonnie Foster and Scott Holt were also together, and they even had two kids together at the ripe old age 20.
Julia, Tommy and Evie were all on the yearbook staff, so they spent a lot of time together. Cindy had tried yearbook back in her junior year, but she'd been on student government and model UN for senior year and they both clashed with yearbook, so she had not been allowed to do all three despite her impressive transcripts.
Joan and Gary both ran with their own circles, and Cindy didn't interact with either of them outside of camp, but that didn't mean she didn't like them. Evie and Cindy, though. They were best friends. They had been friends since middle school, Evie had been the only person who would befriend Cindy after her last group had dropped her for literally no reason.
They'd never fought in this way, Cindy had never felt like she would lose Evie based on the outcome of their argument. She was scared, it had come out of nowhere, and she didn't know what to do about it.
Luckily for her, Danny was quick to soothe her panic. "She's not going to just abandon you, Cindy." His tone was soft but he wasn't looking at her. Cindy was pacing the sliver of floor between the tables, sometimes getting nicked on the hips by chairs that hadn't been pushed in properly.
"I don't understand what her deal is!" Cindy sighed, voice rising an octave. "It feels like she just randomly decided to be mad at me!"
Danny put his collection of paint brushes in the sink and turned around, putting his hand on her elbow. "You gotta listen to me. You guys will be fine, you need to give her a day or two and then you need to sit down and actually listen to her, because for all your many many talents, listening really isn't one of them."
