~~~
She reflected that she hadn’t been wrong about that as she sat unnoticed in the corner while she watched Caleb doing what was clearly arguing in a muffled voice with the two girls in front of him. Sitting on the other side of thirteen years of friendship, she could say without a doubt that she had been grateful to have met her best friend more times than she could count. She had known that first day that there was something special about Caleb Twist, and she had learned nothing over the years that changed her opinion. Even when she had been annoyed or confused by his behavior or downright angry with him, she had always retained the impression that her life had been better with him in it.
Now, however, she found herself questioning whether or not that was still the case. It crept up on her in moments like this one when she wasn’t even sure that he would notice if she got up and walked out and didn’t come back. Eris would notice, of course, even if Caleb didn’t, but the other woman got some sort of sick sense of pleasure out of pushing her buttons and trying to get her to give up and walk away. It was creepy the way she looked at her as if she was something that she would like to crush under her shoe (the creepiness factor not really helped at all by the fact that Katherine knew that that wasn’t really all that far off from what Eris was actually thinking).
Eris looked agitated by whatever it was that they were discussing. Katherine didn’t know what it was; she was more often than not excluded from the conversation these days. There had been a time when Caleb would have objected to that practice, but those days were behind them by a fair amount. That Eris looked agitated wasn’t much of a context clue. She nearly always looked agitated about something. Devon’s expression wasn’t giving anything away either, but Devon had always been harder to read. She was either naturally less inclined to the emotional displays that Eris made, or she had enough of a different background from the other woman to recognize the fact that Katherine would be capable of interpreting any clues that she let slip through her rather stoic facade. Eris didn’t seem to accept the fact that Katherine was capable of . . . any level of thought really.
David wasn’t even participating in the conversation. He was sprawled across the sofa with an arm over his eyes as if it was too much trouble to bother paying attention. That was normal for him these days. He hadn’t participated in much of anything since his brother had taken off -- he mostly just did whatever he was told (as long as the telling was being done by Devon). Ignoring Eris seemed to be the only thing he still bothered to care about.
Things weren’t getting any better.
She was starting to understand what Drake had meant by the somewhat cryptic explanation he had offered her before he had left. It had, at least, been cryptic to her at the time because Caleb had still been more or less Caleb at that point. It was becoming less cryptic by the day as she watched her best friend slip further and further away from her. She didn’t think it would come to this, but there were plans for walking away running through her head every time she closed her eyes. She couldn’t get away from them.
She would have stayed. She would have done anything that he needed her to do. She would have put up with the snide comments and derisive looks and all the rest of it for the boy (man now, she supposed, even though he didn’t always act like it) she couldn’t imagine not having as her best friend. The problem was she was growing more and more convinced that the look alike technically in the same room with her (but feeling farther away than mere measures of distance could ever convey) wasn’t quite her best friend any longer.
The things they were asking him to do combined with the way he was doing them were destroying the Caleb that she knew and trusted -- the one she rearranged her life for without a second thought. He was being replaced by something that she didn’t really understand (and she definitely didn’t recognize), and she knew (even if she wasn’t ready to admit it out loud) that it was only a matter of time. If things continued on their current track with nothing happening to upset the current status quo, then the replacement was going to take over -- there would be nothing of her Caleb left.
She didn’t know how to stop it from happening. She wasn’t even really sure that she knew how to slow it down, and it hurt worse than she would have dreamed that it was possible for it to feel like she was letting it happen. Everything her best friend was was dying in front of her, and she couldn’t save him. She hadn’t even been able to get him to recognize the danger in time for him to try to save himself.
She crossed her arms more tightly across her chest and waited for the decision making enclave to break up -- they might let her know what was coming next after they hashed out whatever it was that they were currently disagreeing on; they might not. She might have to piece it together for herself. It wouldn’t be the first time, and she didn’t think it would be the last.
Her best friend might be disappearing, but she didn’t think he was completely gone yet. She might be too stubborn for her own good, and she might be setting herself up to get even more hurt before it was all over, but she wasn’t going to go anywhere until something showed her that there wasn’t anything still to be gained by staying.
Best Left Unfinished Page 2