FRIDA' S LIST

Chapter 14 Ghosts from the past

On Thursday night, I had my friends for dinner. My babysitter –Louise- was out. So we were supposed to spend a good night. But unfortunately, things didn't turn out as I expected them to. Ben wasn't available because of his jealous girlfriend and his new life in his so cool new high school. We were his past, and he would rather deal with his future.

Emily faked an illness, pretending to postpone it to some imaginary date. Finally, only Celestin and Maeva showed up at 8 pm, and Jojo with Rachel at 9.

This night we were together, reunited. We watched a movie: Kingsmen. Rachel seemed quite pale. She went to the bathroom a few times. I'm not saying that I was worried about her, but I had noticed that she seemed tired. Later, thanks to Princess, I caught her standing in my old sister's room.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her.

"Sorry, I was just visiting. Is it your room?" she said.

"Like I'd have a bed like this. No, it's my sister's old room."

"Oh, I really like it," she said.

She gave me one of her phony smiles. Something was telling me that she wasn't in the room because she "really liked it." I looked around.

"I was just wandering around. Your apartment is really cool," she went on.

"Thanks, I'll tell my mom."

"You don't like me, right?" she said.

I watched her. Her fake smile faded. She looked me right in the eye.

"I don't like the way you talk to Jojo," I said.

"But you're not Jojo," she said with a malicious smile.

I didn't know what she meant by that. I kept watching her and her annoying smile for a while.

"Stop treating him like crap," I said.

She kept smiling and we left the room. We joined the others in the living room and pretended that nothing had happened.

They talked about the future, the last exams, and college. And of course, we talked about relationships. I was the only one single around. Jojo talked about his responsibilities with Rachel "as a man". She chuckled like a sea lion when he mentioned their sexual life. Maeva and Celestin seemed to have something to hide.

I was watching them, and I saw this invisible wall there. We were together like in the past, not all of us, and the ones who were there, weren't even the same anymore. Something had changed. Even me. It was something more than our sexuality standing between us. We were stuck in this in-between, like our friendship. I felt a little bit sad because I knew that it was just the beginning. One day, I knew that Maeva and Celestin would be strangers to me. Maybe, it's how life goes on. Only the present matters.

Later, at 01 am, everyone cleared out. It was probably our last dinner together.

*******

The following day, I knew my last chapter in history by heart. I began to read Uncle Tom's Cabin. And at 4 pm, I got a call. It was Maeva.

"Maybe, we can go out tonight, like to the new movie theater," she said.

"Sorry, I'm not available. I'm going out with Lucas."

"So, that was it!" she said, making the connection. "Don't tell me you're dating him!" she said disapprovingly.

"That's exactly what I just said."

"I thought it was over!"

"Maeva, nothing happened in the past, so, technically it can't be over."