Magic Madness™️

Chapter Fifteen: Knowing

Word Count: 2002

Amber glanced at Alejandro, then Elijah, then back at Alejandro, and then at the path ahead of them. Alex waited for her to say something. She didn't.
"Hey...by the way, I don't think I ever apologized for...that thing with Joan. Like I'm sorry if I hurt you. And not just physically," Alex said as sincerely as he could.
"Oh, I'm over that. It's fine, I was more mad with Joan than I was with you, but we worked that out already," Amber explained. Alex waited for her to continue. She didn't.
"So..." Alex prompted.
"So..." Amber echoed. Alex rolled his eyes.
"You know what I'm getting at. Why do you keep looking at me funny?" Alex asked impatiently. Amber cleared her throat and looked at their feet as they walked.
"You won't be offended if I tell you?" Amber asked.
"No...? I guess it depends. But probably not," Alex replied vaguely. Amber sighed, looking back up at Elijah, who was walking ahead of them, listening intently as Evalyn talked animatedly to Joan and him.
"How are you guys friends?" Amber asked plainly.
"What?" Alex was caught off guard.
"Really. How are you guys friends. I mean—You're super booksmart, don't think I don't notice how you answer all of Joan's science and Earth questions. You think logically. Now...no offense—okay, maybe a little offense—but you're clueless when it comes to people skills. You comfort people like a pro, I've seen you do it, but you wouldn't have to comfort them so often if you didn't make them upset in the first place. Elijah, on the other hand...he's booksmart, but a normal amount booksmart. But emotionally? That kid is on another level. And I know that opposites attract, but you guys are...it just seems like you two have nothing in common. I mean, I get it. My older brother and I are the same way. He's super booksmart, I know how to read people. But we're siblings. We had to work through years of misunderstandings and arguments. But you guys are just friends; either one of you could dip out whenever you want. So how are you guys so close?" Amber asked, "And that's not to say I haven't seen tons of friends and couples who have the same dynamic, because I have. And they work really well. But you guys just seem...unlikely."
Alex let that sink in. How did he and Elijah work so well? They never really fought. There wasn't ever a whole lot to fight about. They had been fighting a lot recently, but they were also closer than ever.
"I...don't know. I may not know how to read people, or how to tell when people are getting uncomfortable and just trying to hide it, but I know how to comfort him, and that's a super rare thing, I guess. Like not a lot of people speak his language, so some people try to comfort him and they just make it worse. And he can read me pretty well, but sometimes I wish he couldn't. He knows when I'm lying, he knows when I'm upset, and he knows—...He just knows. There's pros and cons to everything. But I've known him since, like, preschool. We used to be neighbors, and our moms were friends, so we used to get rides to and from school from each-other's mom depending on the week. That happened until like second grade, and then he had to move, but he still went to school with me. Surprisingly, it was after he moved that we started getting closer. And we haven't really stopped being friends since," Alex replied thoughtfully. Then he paused, laughed, and continued, "That's not true, actually. He stopped talking to me for a whole month in the summer between seventh and eight grade. I thought he hated me, so I decided to ignore him when school started again. Turns out, he was grounded and didn't have access to his phone, so he thought I hated him when school started. That lead to one of our biggest fights ever, but it doesn't really count, because neither of us actually did anything intentionally...mean. It was a colossal misunderstanding, but it didn't take longer than like three days for us to get back on track after the fight."
Amber was silent. She was staring at Alex again.
"What?" Alex asked, like Amber had accused him of something.
"Nothing," Amber dismissed, looking down again, "It's just that you guys are literally perfect for each-other. Like. Soulmate-level perfect."
"Amber, how many times do I have to tell you we're not-"
"Okay, but still, I think you can have platonic soulmates. Even if you're never romantic with someone, you can still be soulmates. And you can have more than one. I think me and my dad are platonic soulmates. We just get each-other. I've always told him everything, he's always been real with me; some souls were meant to be with each-other in life, but that doesn't always mean romantically. That doesn't mean I don't believe in romantic soulmates, too—I think Evalyn is my romantic soulmate. We have something really special. And so do you and Elijah. Even if it's 'not romantic'," Amber elaborated (with finger quotes around the 'not romantic' part,  which Alex elected to ignore).
"I guess that makes sense," Alex agreed. After all, 'mate', in a lot of the world, just means a partner. A pal. Someone you spend time with. Why did it have to be romantic? As intriguing as the idea of a romantic soulmate was to Alex (ever the romantic), he liked the sound of platonic soulmate. Or just an all-encompassing soulmate. Best friend and romantic partner! How cool would that be?
"Is Evalyn both, for you? Best friend and girlfriend?" Alex blurted.
"Oh. Absolutely," came Amber's immediate response, "I love her. Even if she broke up with me, I'd still want to be her friend."
"That's sweet," Alex grinned, and he left it at that.