Changing of the Seasons

Adaptation

I decided to read the message first, before I called him back. "I'm sorry" was all it said. Two words, that was it. I rolled my eyes and deleted it. His constant and abrupt mood swings were enough to make me seasick. I wasn't yet ready to deal with more heartbreak today.

The remaining missed call notification was from Nova. She was my oldest friend. We kind of grew up together. We shared so many interests and hobbies, that we wound up spending most of our time together. We went through all the awkward phases together, from wearing too much eyeliner to terrible fashion choices. We got in our fair share of arguments though too. But I knew she would always be there when I needed her. After graduating high school, she moved to Capital City, which was about 30 minutes south of Silent Springs. Even though we were close, geographically speaking, we had slowly drifted apart after I moved in with Isaac. We only saw each other a few times a year. So, needless to say, I was a little surprised to see her name on my phone's screen.

I pushed the little green phone icon to call her back. She answered on the third ring.

"Hey dude." She greeted me the same way she always did, more like a bro than a typical girl friend.

"Hey man, saw you called. What's up?," I questioned.

I heard the slight hesitation before she continued. "I heard about you and Issac. You alright?" She was always very direct.

I knew this would be coming, but I had hoped I would have more time to compose myself and come up with a nice and clear answer.

"Yeah. I mean no, but I'll be ok eventually. Everything just kind of sucks right now." I closed my eyes against the real world while I worked to keep it together.

"I don't want to pry, so you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I just wanted to let you know that I'm here for you and to see if you needed anything."

I laughed to myself as I responded, "you don't know anyone that's looking for a roommate do you?"

She responded with a little laugh of her own. "Well, not really. But if I hear anything I'll be sure to let you know."

"Thanks, dude." I replied. "So how have you been?"

"Oh you know. I've been better since Lee moved back to Virginia with his parents. I didn't realize how much he had cut me off from everyone until he was gone."

"Oh wow, I didn't even know he left. Are you ok?" I wondered if she could be feeling the same way that I do now. Lee moved in with her about 8 months ago. They were dating on and off, but I never got the feeling that she was head over heels or anything.

"Never better! Now at least I don't have to share my beer," She laughed again. I knew she was serious. As long as I've known Nova, she was never the sentimental type. Or the type to get wrapped up over a boy. She told me about how he moved back in with his parents after his mom visited and deemed her to be a bad influence. Which, knowing Nova, probably wasn't that big of a stretch. She mentioned her new roommate, Adam. I remembered him as the stereotypical sassy one from the close circle of gay guys that were her constant companions in college. She complained for a little while about his eccentric little quirks, as well as his inability to pay his half of the bills...even though every time he came home he had at least 4 bags of loot from Forever 21.

After catching up, we promised to make more of an effort to keep in touch and made plans to meet for lunch next week in Capital City. It was nice to have something to look forward to for a change. After we hung up, I decided to take a shower and get out of the house for a little while. I had some old firefighters to heckle. And besides, staying busy was the only thing keeping me from breaking down.