Weathered Love

BYRON

Thanksgiving was fast approaching. I was glad I wasn't forced to go home. My parents were convinced I was recovering well, and Ivan was planning on staying in California as well for Thanksgiving break. Things had been tense and awkward between us since the Halloween party. We still saw each other frequently, but he was afraid of saying the wrong thing and I was afraid of doing the wrong thing.

"Hey," I stated, approaching him in class one morning. He gave me a confused look. I wasn't taking that class, so I assume he wasn't sure why I was there. "Can we talk?" I requested, nodding to the door. He still had time before class commenced. He left his stuff at his seat and followed me out the door.

"I wanted to start with saying 'Thanks'. If it weren't for you, I probably wouldn't be standing here right now. I hate being babysat, but I know it was necessary. It still sort of is..." I trailed off. It was weird having such a formal conversation with him. "But I don't like where this has taken our friendship," I finally blurted out.

"Me too," Ivan immediately admitted. "I want to be here for you but I'm not stupid. I know you resent me. I kind of resent you too."

I took in a shaky breath. "So, maybe we need to agree to only see each other every other day? For starters. I miss you already just saying it but what this has become... it can't be healthy," I concluded. Ivan nodded with a big smile plastered to his face. He came in for a hug, which I happily returned. It felt like one of our old hugs. Familiar, warm, drama-free... I loved it.

"But we do need to figure out travel plans for Christmas so I'm not breaking our 'date' tonight," Ivan warned. I nodded, then turned around to leave, but stopped.

As I turned back around, I noticed Ivan hadn't left his spot. "Try to keep the sex appeal to a minimum tonight. Hannah's on the prowl," I joked. Ivan's eyes widened in humored fear. I turned back around and let out a breath I hadn't even noticed I was keeping in. I was glad that went as smoothly as it did.

* * *

On the morning of Thanksgiving Day, I video-called my family and friends on the East Coast to say Happy Thanksgiving. Afterward, I laid in bed and debated getting up before the dinner that we had planned at Lorenzo's... that was definitely going to be a weird dinner. While going back and forth on what I should do, if anything at all, I got a call from someone I hadn't heard from in a long time.

"Derek?" I inquired, not sure how to react to his call.

"Hey Ivy! Long time no talk! I know you're in California, I was just getting a little nostalgic over last year and wanted to see how you were doing," he explained.

"I'm good," I casually replied. "How are you doing? Are you a trainer to the stars yet? Or at least D-list celebrities?"

Derek chuckled. I missed that chuckle. "Hardly. I'm putting in my time being a run-of-the-mill gym trainer. But it's not bad. I miss my favorite trainee though. Are you keeping up with things over there?"

I sucked in a sharp breath. I thought he would have known by now. I thought someone would have told him or he would have seen something online. "Can we video chat?" I offered. I figured it would be best to just rip the bandage off.

"Sure," he responded enthusiastically. He hung up and a mere few seconds later, was calling me via video-chat. "Hey again!" he greeted. The smile on his face was short-lived. "What happened?"

My face had gained a lot of flesh back, but it was still a lot more hollow than it had been when I left New York. "Yeah, I'm not allowed to go to the gym," I sheepishly explained. "I made some pretty awful choices while I was here. Things are better now, but they're not where they used to be."