The Fade

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The Fade rocketed past 500 views this week! Thanks, gang!

Friendly reminder to my mom to not read this in my presence or ever acknowledge the fact I wrote this. Love ya!

***

With our bellies comfortably full of venison and steamed carrots, we settle on and around the tiny patio.

The sun has just sunk below the treeline but there's still enough light left that we can see each other and anyone (or anything) that might try to approach the house.

Sander is fiddling with a deck of cards he found in a closet, and Lis is curled up on a sun-faded lawn chair with the January issue of Vogue. Maeve and Jamison are having a whispered conversation, sitting slightly apart from the rest of us, while Cass looks on with a scowl on his face.

Ori drops the flower she was pulling the petals off of and pokes me in the side, right where it tickles. "Whatcha thinking about?" she asks.

I shrug.

"Boys?"

That I can answer. "No."

"What were you and Cass talking about earlier?"

"Nothing, really."

She raises a suggestive eyebrow and I sigh.

"I mean it, Ori. He's just... not the same guy. He's not the same boy I was best friends with growing up."

She casts a long glance his way and then smiles. "That's his loss, then. The way I see it, his becoming a recluse opened up the position of your best friend." She does jazz hands. "And here I am."

I can't help but laugh. "Yes, here you are."

She wraps a protective arm around me and I allow my head to drop onto her shoulder. "So you still don't know what happened with him?"

"Nope. He never said. All I know is he went to Italy last summer and when he came back in the fall he was... different. He didn't want to hang out anymore. He wouldn't even text me back. It was like..."

"Like you never existed."

"Sounds kind of ridiculous now, given what's going on," I say.

Was he relieved when he turned around and I was actually gone?

He may have done his best to ghost me, but I didn't go easily. I kept texting him, kept stopping by his house, kept trying to hold on to a memory of what we were.

It had to have been a relief that I was finally going to leave him alone.

She shrugs. "But he wanted to talk to you. Maybe he finally realized what jerk he's been to you."

"I don't think so," I say with a shake of my head. "He was holding back."

"Halle, there's this thing called ego. Dudes like Cass have huge egos. Apologies don't come easy. I'm telling you, he probably feels awful about the whole thing, he just can't bring himself to say it."

"Whatever." I stretch my legs out. "I'm over it."

She snorts but doesn't push it.

I pick up a pinecone that's next to my feet and throw it at Jamison.

It glances off his ear, and he turns my way with an expression that asks, "What did I ever do to you?"

I wave halfheartedly.

"Need something?" he asks.

"I don't know..." I awkwardly scratch the side of my head, accidentally catching Cass's eye as I do so. I straighten up. "Um... What're you two talking about?"