The Friendship Group Dynamic

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"Where the hell is Ads?" Daniel laughed.

Mikey thought about it, his heart sinking when he realized that Addilyn hasn't shown up to their daily after-work lunches for at least a week. Mikey grabbed his phone and quickly texted Addilyn.

"Maybe AP testing," Mikey tried to think of an excuse.

"That was last week," Jason cut him off. "What is going on with her? Does anyone else think she's been acting weird?"

"You know how she gets," Mikey sighed. He hated that he was lying to his friends but he couldn't. For Addilyn's sake. "She cares about her students. A little too much."

"I get that," Daniel sighed. "It's just. . . She. . . It breaks my heart. What I hate the most is that we can't do anything to help her unless she opens up to us."

"Which is unlikely," Jason mumbled. Before Mikey could stop himself, he kicked Jason's shin. "What?"

"Come on," Mikey sighed. "So she hasn't shown up to lunch the past few weeks. Big deal."

"It is a big deal," Daniel stuttered. "She's our best friend and something is clearly going on with her."

"You don't know that," Jason sighed. "And if there was something going on with her, she'd tell us."

"Would she?" Daniel asked. "She's been missing our lunches the past couple of times. She never misses our lunches."

While Daniel and Jason continued to talk about Addilyn acting weird, Mikey couldn't take the secrecy anymore. Before he could break his promise to Addilyn, his phone started ringing. Mikey sighed as he stood up and walked away from the table as he answered it.

"Hello?"

His heart jumped into his throat as the only thing that came through the phone was violent sobs. He pulled his phone away from his ear and saw Addilyn's name.

"Shit," he mumbled to himself before putting his phone back to his ear.

"Ads? What's going on? What's wrong?"

"I. . . And. . . Then. . . You said. . . But still. . ." Mikey could barely understand Addilyn through her sobs.

"Ads?" He said her name gently. "Listen to me, babe. Are you at your apartment? I'm on my way. Just stay there."

"Okay," she said barely audible. "Please. . . Please hurry."

"I'm on my way."

Mikey hung up and ran back to the table, quickly grabbing his stuff.

"What are you. . ." Daniel said slowly.

"I gotta go," Mikey said as he barely looked at the other guys.

"Again?" Daniel sighed.

"Seriously?" Jason laughed. "Please tell me this isn't Vera again."

"I'll explain later," Mikey said as he rushed out of the restaurant.

* * * * *

The second Mikey parked in front of Addilyn's place, he got out of his car and jogged up the steps. He pounded on the door and impatiently waited for her to answer. When she finally opened the door, his heart dropped into his stomach.

Addilyn was standing in the doorway in leggings, an oversized t-shirt, her hair up in a messy bun, her eyes red and puffy, and fresh tears running down her cheeks. Mikey grabbed her and pulled her into his chest.

"What's going on, beautiful?" He whispered in her ear as he tightened his arms around her.

Someone finally asking her what was wrong, made her break. Her sob broke as her legs gave out. Mikey instantly wrapped his arms around her and picked her up, carrying her inside.