Tightrope

Chapter Twenty Five

A distressed Tori lay on her old blue couch, with her head on her best friend's lap and his wrist in her hands. She played with his watch while he vented about his life and listened to her do the same. The TV was playing in the background - some sci-fi movie from the '90s - but the apartment seemed miserably quiet and empty.

Andre finished a long, drawn-out complaint about his work with a sigh, and moved on to a story about his personal life. Tori was hardly listening to him, but she was glad he'd come over. Something about spending her evenings alone in her apartment gave her a heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach, and having a visitor took the weight off for a while.

"You remember Lilli, right?"

"Uhhh..." The name sounded familiar, but a buzzing noise continued to escape from Tori's lips as she tried unsuccessfully to place it with a face.

"I dated her a couple months ago. I think you met her..." Leaning over as far as he could without disturbing his tired best friend, Andre retrieved his drink from the coffee table and raised it to his lips.

"I might have. She sounds familiar... I've been really busy the last few months though."

"Well anyway, I think we're getting back together." He sounded happy when he spoke, and suddenly Tori remembered him talking about his girlfriend Lilli the last time they'd spent any time together alone. It sure felt like it'd been longer than a couple months though.

"That's great, Andre. I'm happy for you."

"Yeah, she called me up a couple weeks ago. Thought she was pregnant - she's not, thank god, but I went to the doctor with her, and we had dinner together after, and we've been texting a lot lately... I think it might work this time."

"Good." Tori laughed, tearing her eyes away from the large silver watch on Andre's wrist. "It's about time you had a long-term girlfriend." Andre only rolled his eyes and smiled, but it was a genuine smile, and Tori could tell he really liked this girl - in a different kind of way than usual.

"I'll have to bring her over sometime. I think you'd really like her. She's a lot like you, actually."

"Yeah," Tori answered emotionlessly. "I'd really like that."

"...Speaking of long-term girlfriends..." Andre's eyes dipped down to Tori's, and she uncomfortably looked away before she sat up and avoided speaking by grasping her own glass and pressing it to her lips.

"I don't know." She mumbled into the half-empty glass. After a couple of quiet sips, she fed him a little more information about her current predicament. "She's just been...Jade. You know how she is. Always unpredictable. She just can't let herself be happy for very long. She'll come back."

"...Do you want her to?"

"Yes!" Tori found herself hissing at Andre before she even fully consumed the question.

"Yes, of course I do.I love her, Andre. I really do. I love her so much, and...I don't know why, but I do, and I just want her to be happy, but with Jade, that's difficult. She doesn't really...like being happy, in the same way that you or I do... She's different, but I like that. I don't want her to change, but I think...I think she thinks that I do."

"She's a difficult one, that's for sure." Andre didn't know what to say, but Tori didn't mind. Just having someone around to talk to who knew exactly what she meant was nice.

"She is..." They were both silent for a few minutes, mindlessly taking in the movie in front of them. A giant mutant octopus was ravaging some giant metropolis, scooping people up by the dozens and squeezing them to death with its giant, slimy tentacles. Tori and Andre watched in silence as the octopus picked up a particularly annoying character who had been whining throughout the entire movie and squeezed her so hard that her head popped off, sending blood and guts spurting through the air. Tori cringed and averted her attention to her wineglass and the last few drops of cheap pinot grigio inside.