Pick Up The Pieces

That Guy From That Thing

Addie ~

    "No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow."

- Alice Walker

That Guy From That Thing

    I have high expectations, and I am not ashamed to admit it. There are good people and then there are the not so good people, and I've had way too much experience with the shitty people. It isn't worth it, keeping them around. You don't like a person? Fuck them.

    Life's too short to spend time with people who don't make you want to be better. Not necessarily expecting you to be better, because they're supposed to accept you. They should make you want to be better.

    Cassiel was always that for me.

    He and I were born within hours of each other, and we went to the same elementary school, lived on the same street. He shoved that kid on the playground who called me dumb when we were preschoolers, and I pushed the other kid who stole his glasses in kindergarten. We protect each other. Two peas in a pod. That's how it's always been.

    When Cas first told me about his new crush, I admit it. At first, I thought that it was just a throwaway thing, the kind of crush where you like the guy because he has blue eyes, perfect hair, and abs. Cas showed me a picture. Adrian is hot as shit, and I'm not ashamed to admit that, at least.

    Then he called me a week later and told me (very smugly, I might add) that they were together. Two days later, that they kissed for the first time.

    And really, I haven't seen him happier.

    Yeah, sure, maybe I'm a little jealous that Cas never smiled like that at me, but I was happy for him. Adrian this, Adrian that, and I've never seen Cas more in awe of this beautiful person who was becoming more and more like a God to me. Good at everything. Smart. A little dry, but kind. At least, that's how he seemed.

    The next day I got a call from one of my other friends at Lakeside.

    "Addison," Lydia said without preamble. "Did you know that Cas is friends with Adrian Novak-Gonzales?"

    Puzzled, I lean back on my bed, placing my guitar next to me. "Yeah, he told me-"

    "Girl, you're the only person who he listens to, so you have to stop that before it begins."

    My brow furrowed, and then Lydia proceeded to spend the next half an hour telling me about someone completely different than the person that I thought  had gotten to know; albeit, secondhand, but still.

    "Cas thinks he's perfect," I say to Lydia, feeling weirdly defensive of my best friend, even though he wasn't the one getting attacked.

    "Shocker to me, too, but Cas isn't right all the time."

    At first I was angry. Lydia attacking Adrian also meant that she was attacking Cas, and that just annoyed me. But then I got worried. It's true that he tends to see the good in people, and makes it up when it isn't there. Out of the two of us, he's definitely the nice one. He will always help other people, he always pays for others. I'd kill someone, and he'd help me bury the body.

    So, yeah, I got a little nervous about that, and maybe that's why I wanted him to come with Cas to Vancouver. Maybe Adrian isn't perfect. Nobody can be that perfect, right?

I just want to get to know him. Make sure there aren't any ulterior motives, and that he's good for my best friend.

When they first got here, he was quiet. Cas had warned me that he's a little reserved, takes a second to warm up to new people. He smiled at me, but didn't hold his hand out to shake or come in for a hug or anything like that, instead staring out into the distance, quietly observing the hustle and bustle of this popular little pier, swallowing heavily.