Serendipity ○ All 14

21. Addie

I'm going to miss this, Addie thought as she laid down on the living room carpet with her friends surrounding her. The smooth ceiling took up the attention of her eyes, but her ears remained on the conversation going on around her.

Addie, Lawson, Tyler and Simon were all laying downstairs, chatting and trying to ignore the elephant in the room.

The rest of the guys and Jessica were somewhere upstairs, giving the friends privacy to hang out and talk without interference.

Addie was gonna have to treasure the moment for as long as she could. Even though Laws was moving out didn't mean she wouldn't see him, and she felt dramatic for making it such a big deal.

He was literally moving right down the road. It was just a huge change and she hated changes. It would be the first time she was living on her own since the virus hit.

She ran her fingers over the soft carpet and wondered if she was selfish for wanting Laws to stay with her forever.

There would be no more late night Game Cube sessions, or waking up sprawled over each other on the couch when they had one too many drinks and were too drunk to make it to their separate beds.

Laws was her person. Her platonic soulmate. The peanut butter to her jelly.

What was she going to do without him?

Her eyes started to tear up at the thought, but she pushed it away. Simon was laying to her left, and he must have noticed something was wrong because he nudged her side. "What's wrong, Addster?"

His voice was so quiet that Tyler and Laws didn't hear. They continued bickering about something or other.

"I feel like I can't breath," Addie said as she pressed a hand right on her chest. She didn't fail to notice it was over her heart and not her lungs. "It's too much."

He scooted over and locked their pinkies together in a form of support. Simon was the quietest one out of the group, but she liked to think that he had the best grasp on emotions. If she needed support, Simon wouldn't fail to be there for her.

"I know."

He knew did he? "Why are you taking him away from me?"

A name wasn't needed. Simon knew who she was talking about. "It's time." Simple. No excuses. No defensiveness. His pinky didn't move or so much as twitch at the accusation. He expected her to be a mess.

"He's all I got." Addie's brown eyes remained trained on the ceiling, brain whirling and spinning with emotions and thoughts that had no right to wander and plague her.

"You two became dependent on each other when Jace passed." Simon hummed under his breath, knowing it calmed her. He was her best friend. Her enemy. Both at the same time. He was taking Laws away from her.

"So did you and Tyler."

"Tyler and I are in a relationship. You and Lawson are not."

Greta and Teddy had given her the same speech a thousand times before. Said it was unhealthy and would ruin their friendship. She didn't disagree. They all had their vices after losing so many. Who were they to judge?

Her grandmother had argued that she moved out of the house her husband built her so she could move on. Teddy claimed he stayed away from her as much as he could so he could cope in his own way.

Those were excuses. Simon's was not.

"He kissed Jessica," Simon said, gauging her reaction. "So did Tyler and I."