When We Almost Made It (Discontinued)

19 | How To Handle Many Friends: A Guide For All Of You Socially Awkward Fellow

Alec's POV:
What does love mean to you? Or rather what does a relationship mean to you?

The dictionary defines a relationship as

1. The way in which two or more concepts, objects, or people are connected, or the state of being connected

2. The state of being connected by blood or marriage

3. The way in which two or more people or groups regard and behave toward each other

4. An emotional and sexual association between two people

I define a relationship as a deep connection between two or more people.

It doesn't always have to be romantic. It can be platonic. But regardless if it's platonic or not there should always be open communication.

Since I was young I believed communication was the base of all relationships.

And when I got into a relationship with Zaire I noticed that we didn't really have an issue with communicating with each other. Except for that one time when she was really closed off.

But now that our relationship isn't just platonic she seems more closed off. Or maybe I am blowing it out of proportion. We only got together three days ago.

But she seems a little off. I tried to talk to her about it but she just said she was fine and changed the topic. So I dropped it. I don't like invading other people's privacy.

I still just feel like something happened. And it was my fault. It's things like this that make me say communication is key.

But thing about communication. It's a two-way street. And you need someone to meet you half way.

I guess if I had to come up with an analogy to explain all of this. It would the road is the relationship.

Sometimes they're bumping. Other times they're smooth. The stoplights would be the conversations.

Good ones are the green light. And they further the relationship. One or two verbal fights are the yellow lights and they slow the relationship down. And continuous fights are red lights. They stop the relationship from ever progressing.

And the cars are the people. Sometines one goes too fast and it passes the other person by. Other times one person runs out of gas and they are done with the relationship.

And sometimes they go at the same speed and are perfect for each other. They continue down the road along side each other.

I guess that leaves the question that some of you may be asking. 'Which one are Zaire and I?'

Well I wonder that too.

"Hey," Zaire says snapping her fingers disrupting me from my thoughts.

"Yeah," I say tuning back into the conversation.

"He is finally back from la la land," Rose says laughing.

"Well you two starting talking about your essays for English. And since I have English later I see no need to talk about it now."

"We were comparing essays which is important because next class that is precisely what we will have to do. We were just getting a head start on it," Zaire says.

"Isn't that technically cheating," I joke.

"Not necessarily because we will be working together," Rose says.

"Wait what? I thought that..."

"You though wrong. While you were daydreaming Rose and I agreed to work together. So you will need to find someone else to work with in class," Zaire says smirking.

"Oh boy."

'Well at least Zaire seems to be doing better now,' I think to myself.

The lunch bell rings signaling the end of lunch, so I turn to pick up my bag and starting walking with Zaire and Rose to English.

"Are you okay," Zaire asks. "You look like you are sick."

"I am just upset that I have to find a new partner for English," I say.

"Hey it's not permanent. I'll work with someone else next time so you two can work together," Rose says.

"Yeah we can switch off partners. Since it's a trio now," Zaire says.

Yeah it is a trio now. So that would cause some changes when it comes to classes.

'Why are you upset you were the one who wanted to include Rose into the group.'

'I'm not I'm just adjusting to it. Remember I used to not do friends.'

'So you should be happy you're making more friends. The more the merrier right?'

'The more the merrier.'

Zaire's POV:
This multiple friend thing is not as bad as I thought it was going to be. It's only been like three days but so far it's been going well.

Despite my initial distrust Rose is actually cool. I was seriously worried in the beginning that she liked Alec. And then there was going to be a lot of tension between us because of it but no.

When I asked her about it she assured me that she just wanted to be friends with him so that's great.

And the more time I spend with her the more I realize how similar we are.

It's nice but weird. Or maybe I should say not normal. I had been a loner for a long period of my life.

So now that I have not only one but two friends, I'm not really sure what to do with it. I need a manual to tell me what to do.

'How To Handle Many Friends: A Guide For All Of You Socially Awkward Fellows' I would definitely buy it.

But unfortunately I have no time to look for it. I am busy enough as is with school work.

'Ha I can't wait to get out of school.'

'Well when you think about it. And I mean really think about it you are almost there. You've almost made it.'

'Yeah I've almost but I'm not quite there yet.'

"Hey Zaire," Rose says.

"Yes," I say turning to her.

"How do you want to do the comparison? A ven-diagram, a t-chart, just a regular paper?"

"Well a ven-diagram is always easiest, so I would say we should do that one."

"Fair enough," she says drawing two perfect circles.

"I'm jealous of the perfection of those circles."

"Well as an artist I should be able to do this much," she says laughing.

"That's true," I say joining her laughter. Then we get to work.

But as we are working I can't help but notice Alec looking at us with a sad expression on his face.

'I guess I should have worked with him huh?'

'No. You did nothing wrong. He just...'

'Wishes he was working with me.'

'Yeah. But it's good for you to branch out and meet new people. Social interaction with new people is good for you. And maybe Alec will get to meet a new friend because of it.'

'Yeah. Maybe.'