You've Changed

Chapter 2

When I entered the house, hair still wet, my mom knew. She always knew. That night when I had come home sobbing, my mom brought me an ice pack and tried to console me. Repeatedly, she asked "what happened, Demetri" but I didn't respond. Eventually, I just replied with the one word that I could manage to get out, "Eli". My mom looked at me, sorrowfully, and handed me a frozen bag of peas—she was already prepared. Sitting at the table, I placed the peas against my ribs. Why was this so embarrassing? There was nothing to say.

The framed pictures of us were all either taken down or face down, as if he had died. There was one picture she left on the wall in the dining room, and I avoided eye contact the way I did with him in school.

Miguel had come home with me and sat next to me as I iced my side. "If I had been there—"

"It's fine. I'm barely even bruised. If anything, he's losing his touch." I told Miguel with a smile, who had been the one to find me on the locker room floor during his gym period.

"Let's not go to the party tomorrow. He's going to be there. Let's stay in and—"

"Isn't Sam going?"

"Yes, but—"

"You can't not go with your girlfriend to a party. That's breaking some kind of relationship code. Plus, I want to go. Yasmine will be there."

"Are you sure?"

I nodded. "Wait in my room. I have to take a shower to get all of this toilet water off."

While I was in the shower, I remembered the dream. Those hooligans woke me up from a good dream. I shouldn't call it good, but it was. Holding Eli, grasping him like he was the only thing in the world, that was a good dream. Now, the only time I grasp Eli is if I'm trying to push him away. The only time he grabs me is if he's hitting me. I don't know why I still care, I mean, it's been nearly a year since we began to drift away. People grow apart. If it was anyone else, I wouldn't care. He was more than a simple friend. I can't describe it, nor can I fully grasp it. Not that there's any point in trying. It's been almost a year. God, I have to get over it.

"Do you want to play COD?" Miguel asked, but I saw that he had already booted it up on the Xbox. It wasn't really a question. Nodding, I took the extra controller and sat on my bed beside Miguel. He was a good friend. A better one than Eli, I tried to remind myself of that.

***

Saturday meant no school. Saturday meant freedom, and no ass-kicking. After rubbing my eyes, I saw that Miguel was asleep on the air mattress. It had been Eli's. Though, once we got older, he usually slept in my bed. I checked the time and, as teenage boys should, we had slept until noon. Hopping around the air mattress, I exited my room and made my way to the kitchen.

"Good morning." I said to my mom, grabbing a plate of pancakes.

"Good afternoon, more like."

"Time is a construct. Babylonians would look at their sundial and still consider it morning. Noon didn't exist." I said, although I knew that wasn't true, but my mom didn't know any better.

"Then, good morning, fellow Babylonian." She gave in, and ruffled my hair as she walked past. "Is Miguel still asleep?"

"Yeah, on the waterbed." I laughed as I said that, but she just gave me a look. That look means I came too close to mentioning the forbidden name. "He'll wake up in an hour or so." I told her, pretending not to realize.

We were silent. That's how it often was, nowadays. A silence would fall over us like a physical oppressor, making any thoughts we had stay where they brewed. I used to have a good relationship with her, before...