The Edge of Reality

Chapter 12: Tone Change

It was interesting living in such close proximity to my group- I'd been with them before but never before like this. In a sense, I must have romanticized them before because it was hard to pick out flaws and drama among my friends. However, now that I was with at least a couple of them at any given time, some of the discrepancies became clearer to me. Lela wasn't very close to most of us, and even when she was there it felt like she was a million miles away. After the camping trip she gradually started spending less time with us, specifically when Des was around. Des and Eloy were naturally very close, and often shut the rest of us out when them were together. I had no idea where Dwyer came from or what he did with his time, but he was always around when Mara was. Mara, although older and wiser, seemed to have a lot of issues but always wanted to solve other people's problems without addressing her own. Camm didn't really have a "buddy," and seemed to spend a lot of his free time alone and enjoying it. These were all general observations that made me a bit sad at times, but Mareo was the only one who really bugged me. He was really close to both Des and Lela- I knew he wasn't interested in them or vice versa, but I worried that we didn't connect as much as he did with them individually. It wasn't until Eloy got a job at some fast food chain that I started seeing more of Des, despite being roommates for weeks. One lazy Wednesday evening, we were sitting in her room listening to some sort of alternative music and talking about nothing in particular when I decided to bring it up.

"How long have you and Mareo known each other?" I asked her.

"Actually, not that much longer than you," she said, picking up on my tone. "We hit it off at a bar as friends about a year and a half ago, and our group ended up forming not too long later."

"Really?" I thought they'd been friends for years. "You two seem pretty tight."

"Yeah, I guess we just understand each other pretty well," she said. "But he loves you more than all of us, I know that for a fact." I was appeased with that answer for now and decided it would be weird to hover over the topic.

"So you and Eloy..." I said, trailing off to hear what she had to comment.

"Me and Eloy," she said smiling. "I don't really know when we officially got together. But I met him at the same bar and we sort of... I don't know. It's just always been us. I miss him now that he's working all the time."

"He hasn't been around much lately," I said. It had only been a few days, but his absence was bold in contrast to the hours he used to spend around the apartment. "How are you doing?"

"I'm thinking about moving in with him," she said suddenly, as though it were just a passing thought.

"Really?" my eyes widened- it would be weird not having her here, as scarce as she was sometimes.

"He lives across the city, and I don't like being so far from him. At the least, I might go stay with him for a couple months, just to see what it would be like." Her voice was resolute, yet she looked at me almost as though she wanted my approval.

"I... I think that if you guys think it's what you want to do, that's a good idea." I chose my words carefully. I didn't want her to go, but I also knew it wasn't my place to try to stop her.

"Thank you," she said, hugging me. "I'm so glad I have your support."

"Do you not have anyone else's?"

"I haven't actually told a lot of people. Just you, Mara and Mareo. Mareo doesn't really care, of course, but Mara seemed kind of cold about it."

"Interesting... what about Lela?"

"She and I don't really talk anymore. We've actually had some drama going on and I don't really think I need to run it by her." Her voice was tinged with bitterness, and I decided not to try and pry.